How did Google, Facebook, Amazon and Apple confront the EU's antitrust technology rules?

Europe has made a name as the first policeman of technological regulation.

The European Commission, the executive body of the European Union, has imposed on Google a combined fine of US $ 9.5 billion in antitrust fines since 2017, and its boss suggests that Amazon and Apple could be next.

Facebook, for its part, has been the subject of surveys by EU competition and data protection authorities since the strict new set of confidentiality rules for the region, called the General Protection Regulation. (RPG), which came into force last year.

While US regulators and lawmakers are stepping up their efforts to dominate large technology companies, Europe offers valuable lessons.

"You've seen a lot of proxy wars going on here because of the nature of the fact that we have one European regulator for antitrust laws, and the laws are clear, and that regulator clearly has teeth," Mark MacGann , Former Uber public policy chief in Europe and founder of the venture capital consulting firm Moonshot Ventures, told CNBC in an interview.

As far as implementation is concerned, the European Commission has opted for fines and requires technology companies to change their business practices, rather than pretending to dissociate them, said John Cassels, a partner in the European law firm Fieldfisher specializing in business law. competition. an interview. This tactic could contradict Europe's approach with some US lawmakers praising strong talk about the dismantling of large technology companies. Fines imposed by the EU have done little to reduce the profits of technology companies.

"The Commission seemed to want to go so far as to break up, but in fact, it has moved away recently," said Cassels.

Here's how Google, Facebook, Amazon and Apple have behaved up to now among European regulators.

The fine marked the third consecutive year of Google's antitrust rulings in the EU. In 2018, the regulator imposed on Google a record fine of $ 5.1 billion for anti-competitive practices on its Android devices, claiming that the company had forced device manufacturers to pre-install its own applications. Analysts at Evercore ISI wrote in a note last week that they expect the US Department of Justice to take action in this regard, which has forced Google to propose browser alternatives and search for apps on Android devices.

"We think this could be an area in which US investigators will look more closely than before, given the now much greater importance of the mobile ecosystem compared to 2011," they said. writes the analysts of Evercore.

The European Commission first launched against Google in 2017 with a $ 2.7 billion fine for abusing its dominant position as a search engine. The EU has accused Google of favoring its own comparison service over the search results of its competitors.

Legal experts said the 2017 findings, released after a nearly seven-year investigation, could also serve as a guide for US antitrust actions with respect to Google's search practices. But they also warned that it was easier to prove market dominance by EU legal standards than by the United States.

"In the United States, the thresholds are higher and the FTC and the DOJ are somehow put to the test by the courts," said Fieldfisher's Cassels.

The EU's Facebook headquarters is in Ireland and the social media giant faces several inquiries from the Data Protection Commission. The complaints range from Facebook to the inability to provide access to personal data the way the company targets ads on its platform.

"European national regulators and more particularly Ireland will make many decisions in the coming months," said MacGann.

Experts also discuss the findings of a three-year investigation by Facebook, an antitrust watchdog about Facebook, which could serve as a guide to a possible FTC investigation, as it addresses both the collection of data and monopoly issues. In February, the German regulator found that Facebook had abused its market dominance in the way it collected, merged and used user data on its platforms, including WhatsApp and Instagram. He ordered the company to stop merging data on separate applications without the deliberate consent of users. Facebook has appealed the order.

The German antitrust watchdog also investigates Amazon. The issue is whether the distribution giant prevents fair competition in its online market in the country. The regulator cited "many complaints" it had received from vendors about Amazon's business practices.

Amazon's role in e-commerce has also sparked new investigations by national competition authorities in Austria and Italy. In the case of Italy, regulators have distinguished Amazon's practices in online retail and logistics. Amazon said it fully cooperates with the authorities.

In the meantime, Margrethe Vestager, head of competition policy in Europe, told CNBC in April that the EU's investigation on Amazon was at an "advanced" stage. The European Commission is investigating whether Amazon is exploiting merchant data.

In March, Spotify filed a complaint against Apple with the European Commission, claiming that the costs of Apple's App Store disadvantage its competitors. The Stockholm-based online music broadcasting company has contested a 30% reduction from the iPhone taken by most in-app purchases made through the App Store. Apple says its fees are reasonable.

Spotify's complaint to the EU reflects a lawsuit filed in the US this week by app developers that Apple has reached "monopoly power" via its App Store.

The EU said it will evaluate Spotify's complaint through its standard procedures. But Vestager has not hesitated to face Apple in the past, ordering the company to pay Ireland $ 14.5 billion in taxes in 2016.

Technology stocks have been under pressure since the announcement of possible investigations by the DOJ and the FTC. Shares of Google's parent company, Alphabet, have dropped about 5% and Facebook, from about 6% in the last five days. Stocks of Amazon and Apple traded higher during this period.