Euro antitrust cop Margrethe Vestager to depart after decade of reining in Big Tech

Her legacy hinges on her successor – will they double down?

Europe's top competition cop, Margrethe Vestager, will reportedly be stepping down later this year, a development certain to please the US tech firms she called to the carpet.

According to the Financial Times, the poor showing of her Social Liberal party in Denmark's 2022 election means she will not get renominated for a third term. The ruling Social Democrat party is expected to nominate a replacement from among the three men being considered.

Vestager – said to have been the inspiration for Birgitte Nyborg, the fictional first female prime minister of Denmark on the television series Borgen – became the European Commission's commissioner for competition in 2014. She continued her oversight of competition policy after becoming executive vice president of the European Commission for A Europe Fit for the Digital Age in 2019.

During her first two terms, the Danish politician tangled with top US tech giants – including Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta and Qualcomm – as well as European firms like France's Alstom and Germany's Siemens AG.

With Europe's Digital Markets Act (DMA) coming into force in 2022 – and with the designation in 2023 of Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta, and Microsoft as "gatekeepers" – there's been actual change in the competition landscape.

Apple, for example, has been forced to allow third-party app stores to operate in Europe.

In March, the European Commission opened non-compliance investigations into Alphabet (Google), Apple, and Meta over alleged violations of the DMA. And in prior competition investigations, the Commission has fined Google $2.7 billion (still being contested), told Apple it must pay about €13 billion ($14 billion) in unlawful Irish tax breaks (still being contested), and reached a settlement with Amazon.

Apple CEO Tim Cook called the EU tax charges against his iGiant "total political crap."

Among US tech firms, it's fair to say Vestager is about as unpopular as her US counterpart, Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan. Venture capitalist and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, and Barry Diller, head of IAC and Expedia Group, have reportedly urged vice president Kamala Harris to commit to getting rid of Khan, should Harris win the upcoming US presidential election.

Max von Thun, director of Europe and transatlantic partnerships for the Open Markets Institute, told The Register, "Vestager has not had an easy ride during her ten years as EU competition commissioner. While Big Tech and its allies have falsely tried to paint her anti-business, others have criticized her for not going far enough to rein in tech monopolies."

Von Thun said while Vestager ought to have done more to ensure fair competition, she was for many years the only politician on the global stage trying to check the dominance of Big Tech.

"The antitrust investigations she led into Google, Apple, Amazon and others were seminal in raising awareness of the harms caused by tech monopolies, if not in tackling the roots of their power," observed von Thun. "Meanwhile, legislation that Vestager has championed – in particular the Digital Markets Act – represents an important step forward in creating a fairer and more open tech sector in which European innovators are able to compete and scale.

Ultimately, the impact of Vestager’s departure will be determined by who replaces her

"Ultimately, the impact of Vestager’s departure will be determined by who replaces her.

"If the next competition commissioner chooses to consolidate and build upon her work, then Vestager’s term will be seen as the start of a more robust European approach towards tackling corporate concentration. But if her replacement opts for a weaker approach to enforcement, then her term will be seen as a promising but ultimately unsuccessful blip, and the chances of meaningful competition to Big Tech will recede even further."

Lucas Lasota, legal programme manager for the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE), praised Vestager for having the courage to speak openly against digital oligopolies and the harms arising from concentrated industry power.

"The EU was able to pass diverse innovative legislation dealing with corporate power – and Vestager's legacy will be put on proof in the next decade in the very complex implementation of such laws," Lasota told The Register. "DMA is a clear example. DMA grants the Commission enormous enforcement power, so a highly competent, dedicated and well-equipped commissioner is key for reaching fairer and more competitive digital markets.

"The FSFE is deeply involved in the enforcement efforts of the DMA, working with the Commission as a stakeholder representing the views of the Free Software community. We will make sure to highlight the interests of our community before the European Parliament – especially in the formation of the new commissioner's term – so Free Software remains a key element in their antitrust and consumer protection agenda." ®