Google withdrawal threats could result in antitrust backlash: Vestager

European Union Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager warned of potential antitrust action against Google or other US technology giants if they threaten to pull out of markets.

Vestager told the European Parliament’s economy committee on Tuesday that there could be scope for “investigating if it’s actually legal for a dominant provider to stop supplying” services, adding that the EU “would have a number of tools to use.”

Her comments follow controversy in Australia, where Google and Facebook Inc. have been lobbying against a proposed law to require the search and social media companies to pay publishers for the value stories generate on their digital platforms