The European Union"s (EU) commissioner in charge of going after big tech, Margrethe Vestager, will not be returning as an EU commissioner in the second von der Leyen Commission, which will be formed following the recent EU elections.
The Financial Times reports that Margrethe Vestager belongs to the Danish Social Liberal Party. It became an opposition party in the 2022 Danish elections, and now, the incumbent parties want to pick somebody else to be the commissioner from Denmark.
Vestager first became a commissioner in 2014 during the Juncker Commission. At that time, her party was in government as part of the coalition. A former minister from one of the current coalition parties told the Financial Times that "Vestager is out. Nobody owes her anything."
The FT notes that Vestager went after big tech during the Obama and Trump administrations, which it claims "strained relations." However, under Biden, the US has mirrored her actions and chased big tech down for breaching antitrust rules. An antitrust lawyer, Ken Daly, said, "I ask myself whether the US would have ever gotten there if Europe hadn"t gone first."
Contenders to replace her include Belgian commissioner Didier Reynders, Dutch commissioner Wopke Hoekstra, and French commissioner Thierry Breton. Notably, Breton sounded quite tough with Elon Musk a few years back, explaining that Twitter, now X, would fly by EU rules. Whoever takes over, it"s hard to see them being as tough on big tech as Vestager has been, but we will just have to wait and see what happens.
Even if big tech gets a break on the antitrust front, it will still have to comply with the EU"s new Digital Services Act and Digital Market Act, which set stringent rules for big tech companies to follow. These rules are focused on creating a safer digital space where the fundamental rights of users are protected and establishing a level playing field for businesses.