If it seems like only US technology companies are being targeted, that’s only because they are so dominant
Is Margrethe Vestager, the EU competition commissioner, on a mission to undermine Google? And has the commission, steeped in 12 years of conflict with Microsoft, got a problem with the entire US technology industry? In less exaggerated form, some US voices may make the argument. Vestager’s latest inquiry, into alleged monopoly abuse of the Android operating system, is Brussels’ second Google probe in 12 months.
“We have no grudge against any company,” says Vestager. “We have an obligation to look at whether behaviour is anti-competitive or an abuse of dominance.” That’s what you’d expect her to say, of course. But she’s surely correct: the complaint of anti-Americanism is a distraction, and it also seems plain wrong.
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