EU Lawmakers Push Back on U.S. Criticism of Tech Antitrust Regulation

A group of European Union lawmakers wrote to top U.S. officials to push back on accusations that the bloc is using its new digital competition rules to treat American tech giants unfairly, saying that some U.S. companies are calling for its enforcement.

The letter, seen by Dow Jones Newswires, was sent to U.S. Department of Justice Attorney General Pamela Bondi and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Wednesday. EU lawmakers called for regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to work together to take on Big Tech, and said claims that EU tech laws undermine relations or act in effect as a tax on American companies are unfounded."

Given the importance of our shared values in promoting fair competition and innovation, it is essential that we align our efforts to address the challenges posed by dominant digital platforms," the note said. It was signed by nine members of the European parliament, including France's Stephanie Yon-Courtin and Germany's Andreas Schwab.

The letter said the EU's Digital Markets Act, which the Commission used to launch probes into Apple, Alphabet's Google and Meta Platforms last year, doesn't solely target U.S. companies, highlighting that Booking.com—Booking Holding's European business—and TikTok have also come under scrutiny. Booking.com is based in the Netherlands while TikTok is owned by China's ByteDance.

It also said that several U.S. companies want to gain from the rules being in place and actively campaign for the law's enforcement against Big Tech companies.

Companies such as Fortnite creator Epic Games have developed or are developing app stores that can be used on European iPhones and Android devices as an alternative to those of Apple and Google, they said.

DuckDuckGo – an American privacy-focused search engine – this month co-signed a letter to the EU's top competition and technology regulators asking them to investigate Google for potentially breaching the DMA's provisions around search-data sharing and offering users an alternative to Google's search engine and Chrome browser as their default on Android phones."

Similarly, Netflix, Disney and other streaming companies, currently burdened by Apple's and Google's high app store fees, would also benefit from a fairer competitive landscape under the DMA," EU lawmakers said, adding that thousands of U.S. startups could generate income from the EU if tech giants comply with the law.

EU officials face mounting pressure from the U.S. to justify new pieces of legislation like the Digital Markets Act, which labels a handful of the world's most powerful technology companies like Apple, Google and Meta as "gatekeepers" because of their control over key digital commerce routes like search engines, app stores and social networks.

The law sets out a list of do's and don'ts that stop businesses from favoring their own products and services over smaller players'. Companies face fines of up to 10% of their annual worldwide turnover if the commission decides they are breaking the rules, with penalties escalating to 20% for repeat offences.

A mounting pile of EU digital regulations, has drawn ire from the Trump Administration, which last month instructed U.S. regulators to scrutinize rules that dictate how American companies interact with consumers in the EU.

Jim Jordan, chairman of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, in February asked the EU's competition enforcer, Teresa Ribera, how she plans to enforce the DMA, saying the rules appear to unfairly target U.S. companies. Jordan gave Ribera a March 10 deadline to brief the committee on the law."

The DMA fosters a competitive ecosystem where innovative companies – whether they are American, European or from other parts of the world – can innovate without being unfairly disadvantaged by entrenched market power," the EU lawmakers' letter said.