Combating the System: Europe's New Take on Tech Monopolies

From flashy billboards to the uncontrollable wave of adverts constantly flashing on our TV screens, the tech we use every day has come to dominate us. Take Amazon for example, a company that is at first sight harmless, and indeed very helpful at being a mediator between consumers and sellers, but owns much of what we use every single day: Twitch, Whole Foods, Ring, Zappos just to name a few. It comes as no surprise then, that this Wednesday, the European Union has come together to discuss growing concerns of international monopolies being a danger to the potential European technology market.

As a report by the New York Times states, “Officials said the effort was a “generational project,” and the ideas reflect a growing concern among European leaders that countries in the region are overly dependent on services provided by companies based elsewhere.” And this is of course, understandably so. Apple, Huawei and Samsung are the three biggest players in the smartphone space - and as you may quickly see, none of these companies are based in Europe.

Picture from The Economist

Understanding Europe’s current dependence on international brands for everyday technology, Ursula Von Der Leyen, the European Commission’s president stated that ““We want to find European solutions in the digital age,” But Europe’s strategy to reach this goal, with an emphasis on data ownership, is perhaps the most interesting part of Wednesday’s meeting.

“A.I is not good or bad in itself,” said Margrethe Vestager, the European Commission Vice president, hinting at Europe’s biggest concern with today’s modern technology market: With only a few companies owning an ever increasing amount of what we own, data that can be used to improve technology products is held by only a few key players.

To respond to this issue, Europe proposes more government intervention in technological data collection, providing companies and researchers in Europe with key information that will, in Europe’s optimistic views, give the Union a chance to participate in tomorrow’s technology market.

With Europe’s repetitive internet regulation policies, including the infamous Article 13 copyright laws, the proposition of these laws seems like yet another step in an ongoing chain of events where Europe gains exclusive control over its own information.