Google and Facebook’s Next Big Fight
The EU regulator nicknamed “Mr. GDPR” wants to go way beyond privacy and into antitrust. The linking of these two things should worry the tech giants.
GDPR is only just the start in Europe's battle with the tech giants.
Photographer: JOHN THYS/AFPFor many people, it probably sounds a little rich to hear the European Union accuse Silicon Valley of being a graveyard of innovation. But that’s where we are in 2019. Regulators are hitting the likes of Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Facebook Inc. with a flurry of antitrust fines and data-privacy probes, implying that they regard tech billionaires as more John D. Rockefeller than Nikola Tesla.
The end-game, according to Brussels’ top data watchdog, is to make sure new startups aren't blown out of the water by Big Tech (or gobbled up), which should ultimately benefit consumers by allowing them more choice.