The European Union’s competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, poses during an interview Monday Jan. 14, 2019, in Copenhagen, Denmark. Vestager, who has challenged big Silicon Valley companies such as Google and Apple with high profile cases, is laying the groundwork for intensified scrutiny of tech firms as she prepares to end her term in office in late 2019. (AP Photo / Kelvin Chan)
COPENHAGEN, Denmark: Silicon Valley’s notorious nemesis, Margrethe Vestager, plans to end her term as the European Union’s antitrust enforcer this year with a bang, laying out a long-term plan to intensify scrutiny of the world’s big tech companies.
As the EU’s competition commissioner, Vestager is arguably the world’s most important tech regulator. Since 2014, she has slapped Google with eye-popping multibillion-dollar antitrust penalties, ordered Apple and Amazon to pay back taxes and fined Facebook over its WhatsApp acquisition – flagship enforcement cases that have struck fear into Silicon Valley while drawing attention in Washington.
