QE - European Parliament



Question for written answer E-002887/2019to the CommissionRule 138Carmen Avram (S&D)Subject:Digital technologies and antitrust cases: competition tools and regulations, from fines through structural remedies to changing the status quoParliament’s resolution of 27 November 2014 on supporting consumer rights in the digital single market was adopted by a vast majority of the House. It stated: ‘calls, furthermore, on the Commission to consider proposals aimed at unbundling search engines from other commercial services as one potential long-term means of achieving the aforementioned aims’.In the USA, attitudes toward big tech companies seem to be changing, as outlined by 48 State Attorneys General in the Google Antitrust Investigation. In the Federal Trade Commission the dissenting statement of FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra confirms some past criticisms: ‘the Commission repeats many of the same mistakes from the flawed Facebook settlement: no individual accountability, insufficient remedies to address the company’s financial incentives, and a fine that still allows the company to profit from its lawbreaking. The terms of the settlement were not even significant enough to make Google issue a warning to its investors’.Given Ms Vestager’s most recent answer regarding Google’s market share, and the number of clicks on Google search first page results:Does the Commission agree that fines are not the way to stop discriminatory practices, and that fines are just the cost of doing business for tech companies in the EU single market? Can the Commission also analyse and consider structural remedies as a possible way forward for antitrust cases relating to digital technologies? ................
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