The European Union is getting worried about the increased dominance of U.S. based tech firms and has launched a program to keep them in check. Companies such as Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple are all under the spotlight.
The main goal here is the boost the European tech sector, which has been finding it difficult to rise due to the inability to compete with big American companies that have laid a firm footing in the region.
The EU is planning to open an investigation into Apple’s latest online music service. The study will look into many things that include Apple and its deal with record labels to see if the company is attempting to sideline rivals.
On the matter of Facebook, over 25,000 Europeans have complained that the social network is not respecting their privacy rights and have thus filed a class action lawsuit against company.
Facebook, who has over 300 million users in Europe, claims that it follows European laws at all times.
When it comes down to Google, this is where things begin to get serious. The search giant controls over 90 percent of the search market in Europe, and this is a massive problem, mainly because competing companies in the region are unable to compete, or is it being unable to innovate? That’s for another time.
Due to Google’s dominance, the company has used its search service to promote its many other services, and the EU doesn’t like this. At one point, there was a plan to break up Google across Europe to make it easier for others to compete, but those plans are now out the door.
From what we’ve come to understand, a new plan is in the pipeline.
Finally, the EU is also looking into Amazon. The company is too big right now and is causing problems for other e-commerce companies hoping to compete. The EU wants to see if Amazon and others breach any laws.
Source: [CNN Money]