Google and Facebook Get Some Very Unwelcome News
Margrethe Vestager has been reappointed as Europe’s antitrust regulator. Big Tech now faces a two-pronged attack in Brussels and the U.S.
Five more years.
Photographer: Bax Lindhardt/AFP
Margrethe Vestager, famous for slapping vast fines on the likes of Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google during her tenure as the European Union’s top antitrust official, has been given the chance to do it all over again. She’s been handed the same job in Ursula von der Leyen’s proposed European Commission.
Lest it be seen as some kind of consolation prize for missing out on the top job of president (which went to von der Leyen), Vestager has also been awarded the title of executive vice president in charge of coordinating the bloc’s digital strategy. That’s a huge job that goes beyond market abuse and into standard-setting on data protection, AI ethics and mobile networks.