The EU Should Be Careful How It Takes On Big Tech
If it won’t make people better off, don’t do it.
Use caution.
Photographer: Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP/Getty Images
Big tech companies have brought the 21st century some of its greatest innovations. Amazon.com Inc., Google search, Apple Inc.’s iPhone and other digital products have made people’s lives immensely more convenient and productive — a consumer benefit worth, by one estimate, more than $2.5 trillion a year. They deservedly dominate their respective markets.
It’s true that such dominance can at some point threaten competition. Increasingly, European Union officials are taking it upon themselves to decide where that line should be drawn. They should take care not to merely punish success, and remember that red tape often does more harm than good.