Showing archive for: “EU”
Pump and Circumstance: The Politics of Italy’s Fuel-Price Caps
The Italian government is claiming a victory at the pump. Eni, the country’s largest oil company, has announced a 30-day cap on retail fuel prices. Italy’s second-largest fuel retailer, IP, controlled by the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (Socar), followed suit, as did the third-largest, Q8. Smaller rivals warn that the caps could squeeze ... Pump and Circumstance: The Politics of Italy’s Fuel-Price Caps
Brussels Writes the Answer Key
Ask Brussels what ChatGPT is, and you get two answers. Under the Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act), the European Union regulates it as artificial intelligence. On Aug. 31, the European Commission supplied another answer when it designated ChatGPT as a Very Large Online Search Engine under the Digital Services Act (DSA). Each classification comes with ... Brussels Writes the Answer Key
Rate Expectations: Apple and the New Price Regulators
Competition policy is supposed to protect the competitive process, not do double-duty as price regulation. Yet the line between the two appears to be blurring in both a U.S. antitrust case and the European Union’s enforcement of the Digital Markets Act (DMA). On Aug. 14, after years of litigation with Epic Games, Apple submitted a ... Rate Expectations: Apple and the New Price Regulators
The Crime of Winning: How Europe’s DMA Punishes Google for Competing
Brussels has found a new way to punish success. Today, the European Commission fined Google €890 million under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) for two familiar business practices—featuring its own products and charging for customers its platform helps attract. The Commission imposed €460 million for “self-preferencing,” or giving Google’s services prominent placement in search results, ... The Crime of Winning: How Europe’s DMA Punishes Google for Competing
The SEARCH Act Copies Europe’s Homework—and Its Mistakes
Some in Congress want to make online search more competitive by deciding in advance how search competition should work. Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) introduced the Securing Enforcement of Americans’ Right to Competition at Home (SEARCH) Act earlier this month. Billed as a bipartisan effort to protect consumers and curb Big Tech’s ... The SEARCH Act Copies Europe’s Homework—and Its Mistakes
Europe Wants Tech Champions, Then Makes Them Share the Trophy
Europe wants its own technology champions. It just seems less comfortable with what champions look like once they arrive. The European Commission’s latest Digital Markets Act (DMA) decisions capture that tension. Europe wants more innovation, investment, and globally competitive digital platforms. Yet when a company assembles the data, technology, distribution, and complementary services needed to ... Europe Wants Tech Champions, Then Makes Them Share the Trophy
Android and the Art of Regulatory Self-Harm
Europe keeps asking where its technology champions are. In Google Android, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) offered part of the answer: build a successful platform, and Brussels may spend the next decade treating its architecture as evidence. The CJEU’s final judgment in Google Android, handed down last week, will be celebrated ... Android and the Art of Regulatory Self-Harm
The DMA’s Cloud-Cuckoo Land
The Digital Markets Act (DMA) was built to police digital gatekeepers. The European Commission now wants to test how far that metaphor can stretch—past app stores, social networks, and marketplaces, and into the server racks. The Commission has reached the preliminary view that Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure should be designated as gatekeepers ... The DMA’s Cloud-Cuckoo Land
Fit for Purpose, Unfit for Review: Why the DMA’s First Evaluation Could Never Find Failure
The first review of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) reads less like an evaluation than a wellness check performed by the patient’s proud parent. The pulse is strong. The color is good. Any lingering symptoms? Too early to tell. On April 28, 2026, the European Commission published the review required under Article 53 and declared ... Fit for Purpose, Unfit for Review: Why the DMA’s First Evaluation Could Never Find Failure
Act First, Learn Later: AI Antitrust and the Error Costs of Regulation at Machine Speed
Competition enforcers appear to have discovered their own version of artificial intelligence: act first, learn later. In the span of a week, agencies across four continents moved to reshape how AI products are built, distributed, and integrated—mostly before anyone has shown, in a final appealable decision, that the challenged conduct harms competition. Last week, a ... Act First, Learn Later: AI Antitrust and the Error Costs of Regulation at Machine Speed
If at First Consumers Don’t Switch, Regulate Again
Under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), consumers are apparently sovereign—right up until they choose the wrong thing. When Mozilla reports that Firefox is now selected through a DMA browser-choice screen once every 10 seconds—more than 6 million selections in total, with daily active iOS users 113% higher in the European Union than they would have ... If at First Consumers Don’t Switch, Regulate Again
The DMA Meets the Rule of Law
The European Union’s Digital Markets Act was built to move fast: designate gatekeepers, impose obligations, and reshape digital markets before the lawyers can finish sharpening their pencils. But in Meta Platforms Ireland v. Commission, the General Court offered a useful reminder: even Europe’s new digital rulebook still has to pass through an old-fashioned door marked ... The DMA Meets the Rule of Law
