EU ponders tech company watchdog as anti-trust cases rage on
The EU is looking to establish a technology watchdog to better regulate internet companies, especially those based in the US.
Google is one of the companies under EU anti-trust investigation
The Wall Street Journal reports that the EU Commission is considering setting up a body to supervise major tech companies in a bid to encourage and enforce competitive trade in the region.
An EU memo acquired by the WSJ listed a number of firms which could be monitored by the new watchdog, only five were established outside of the US.
The document, which was produced for EU commissioner Günther Oettinger, claimed that the EU needed to establish a “supervision framework” to cultivate competition and clamp down on anticompetitive behaviour.
Amazon, TripAdvisor , Etsy, and booking.com were among companies the memo said could come under investigation.
The news emerges after the EU upped its anti-trust case against Google’s search capabilities which the body claimed was producing results from its Google Shopping service “irrespective of its merits”.