The logos of Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft displayed on a mobile phone with an EU flag shown in the background.Justin Tallis | AFP via Getty Images
LONDON — The European Union needs to be more ambitious in its control of Big Tech and smaller acquisitions that often go under the radar, Germany, France and the Netherlands said on Wednesday.
The 27-member bloc is currently discussing new legislation that could ultimately force Big Tech to change how it operates. The Digital Markets Act, a proposal put forward last December, aims to level the playing field in the EU market and could be implemented as early as 2022. In this context, Berlin, Paris and the Hague are asking for a stricter stance on mergers.
“We have to strengthen and speed up merger control in particular vis-à-vis certain gatekeeper platforms to tackle the strategies of platform companies consisting in systematically buying up nascent companies in order to stifle competition,” the three countries said in a common statement.
It has long been a concern for European capitals that some of the biggest tech firms in the world have bought up start-ups, including in the EU, in deals that have escaped scrutiny because they did not meet
