The Commission's approval comes despite months of warnings from civil society, journalists, and the film and TV industries that the deal would concentrate an unprecedented share of production, distribution and broadcasting power in the hands of one company, reducing the number of major American studios from four to three.
Read MoreWithout these orders, the 60% of Europeans who use an Android device would be locked into Gemini as their only system level AI assistant, and Google would continue to leverage its overwhelming monopoly over search data to gain an unfair advantage over its competitors in AI development.
Read MoreThis decision is about European sovereignty and democracy as much as competition or bargaining power.
Read MorePolicy and advocacy lead Giorgos Verdi argues that the EU’s Tech Sovereignty Package is a promising step toward reducing Europe’s dependence on U.S. technology firms, but warned it will fall short unless Europe also confronts the market concentration that allows Big Tech to dominate AI, cloud, chips, and digital infrastructure.
Read MoreMax von Thun and Claire Lavin argue that merger guideline progress is undermined by the introduction of a bias for scale and efficiency loopholes, which give large corporations more paths to complete a merger.
Read MoreOpen Markets Europe policy analyst George Colville published a piece condemning an aggressive lobbying strategy mounted by Google and Apple to reframe interoperability mandated by the EU’s Digital Markets Act as threats to user privacy and security.
Read MoreThe UK Competition and Market Authority’s (CMA) will require Google to to adhere to new conduct requirements in their use of publisher content for AI Overviews. CMDG was at the forefront of urging the CMA toadopt remedies to level the playing field with publishers in the transition to AI-enabled search.
Read MoreThe Open Markets Institute Europe warns that the Commission is failing to seize the full potential of the DMA to address harmful abuses of market power by digital gatekeepers.
Read MoreOpen Markets Europe director Max von Thun argued in this co-written article that Europe has an opportunity to counter concentrated tech power and assert global economic leadership by aligning digital markets with democratic values and deeper economic integration
Read MoreThe Open Markets Institute, Balanced Economy Project, Rebalance Now, and SOMO released condemned the European Commission’s decision to allow Google to acquire cloud security firm, Wiz, against expert recommendations for a deeper assessment of the deal.
Read MoreLegal director Sandeep Vaheesan emphasizes that Europe doesn’t need to copy America’s model to be competitive; it should double down on strong competition policy to avoid the economic imbalances and harms baked into the US approach.
Read MoreIn this issue, we explore the legal and economic impact of OpenAI’s deals to lock up supply of memory chips.
Read MoreThe European Commission announced a preliminary finding that Meta may have abused its dominant position by excluding third-party AI assistants from WhatsApp. The Commission intends to impose interim measures to prevent serious and irreparable damage to competition. Such measures could include Meta being forced to open WhatsApp to third-party AI assistants. Max von Thun, Director of Europe & Transatlantic Partnerships at the Open Markets Institute, released a following statement.
Read MoreThe Open Markets Institute released a statement led by Max von Thun, Director of Europe & Transatlantic Partnership a preliminary finding that TikTok’s platform design contributes to addictive use and may violate the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA) requiring TikTok to fundamentally change to its business model, including disabling addictive features such as “infinite scroll”.
Read MoreOpen Markets Institute, alongside partner organisations Article 19, the Balanced Economy Project and SOMO, made a detailed submission to the European Commission urging officials to open an in-depth investigation into Google’s proposed acquisition of the cloud security firm Wiz.
Read MoreEurope research fellow Claire Lavin co-wrote an article arguing that Google’s proposed $32 billion acquisition of Wiz would dangerously concentrate control over Europe’s cloud security infrastructure in the hands of a U.S. tech gatekeeper, threatening competition, data governance, and digital sovereignty—and must be rigorously investigated and potentially blocked by EU regulators.
Read MoreOpen Markets Institute helped craft a letter with more than 70 press freedom organisations, businesses, experts, and think tanks urging the European Commission to reject Google’s proposed remedies in the adtech antitrust case.
Read MoreEurope director Max von Thun spotlights the EU’s new antitrust investigations into Google and Meta mark a crucial step toward preventing Big Tech from using its platform power to dominate AI, exploit creators, and undermine competition and democratic access to information.
Read MoreEurope director Max von Thun argues that Europe’s response to Trump-era pressure on digital regulation must combine tough enforcement against Big Tech with major investment in homegrown technology, warning that efforts to weaken landmark laws like the AI Act and GDPR threaten European sovereignty and democratic security.
Read MoreIn this issue, we take a closer look at whether Trump tariff policies are the only reason Europe might moderate a key carbon pricing mechanism, which lies at the heart of its climate change policy.
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