EU Considers Creating Tech Regulator

The European Commission is mulling the idea of a new directorate seeking to rein in Big Tech, which could be headed up by two top antitrust officials.

According to a Reuters report Thursday (July 28), the move could help alleviate concerns associated with the European Union getting companies like Amazon, Apple and Alphabet’s Google to follow the Digital Markets Act.

The rules, which will go into effect next year, will ban Big Tech companies from setting their own products as preferences, so app developers will be able to use competing payment systems.

Per the report, the directorate might be headed up by Alberto Bacchiega, director of information, communication and media with the Commission’s antitrust division.

Bacchiega is in charge of antitrust and merger cases involved with tech, media and consumer electronics, and he might be assisted by Thomas Kramler, who is in charge of the unit working with antitrust cases in eCommerce and data economy. Kramler is also is currently investigating Apple and Amazon on some cases.

The European Commission did not respond to a request for comment from PYMNTS.

PYMNTS wrote recently about the legislative discussions happening in the U.S. around one proposed piece of antitrust legislation, called the American Choice and Innovation Online Act.

See also: Google Endorses Bill to Limit Government Data Demands 

The bill would center around how companies use data, and how not to use it — for example, not using it to favor a company’s own products over others’. It would also look at who has access, like how much data from online advertising or data from the app stores should be shared with third parties.

Some Big Tech firms have said the passage of this legislation would mean consumers losing privacy and control of their data, which they say people “value dearly.” Google and Apple have argued for the implementation of a federal privacy law — which they have said could be some protection against the broad mandate to grant access to data.

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