The US and Europe still don’t see eye to eye on Big Tech

It’s tempting to imagine that the US is finally catching up with Europe when it comes to skepticism and regulation of Big Tech.

The reality is different. While the Department of Justice(DOJ) is now pursuing a lawsuit against Google parent Alphabet Inc., and a House panel has proposed reforms to curb the power of Silicon Valley’s biggest firms, the European Union’s(EU) tackling of Big Tech is at a very different stage in its evolution. But ploughing too far ahead of the US may be risky.

It’s useful to consider tech antitrust regulation in two acts. In the first, authorities seek to use tools already at their disposal to correct companies’ worst excesses. Should this prove ineffective, lawmakers can then move to the second act and seek to strengthen these tools by updating antitrust laws.