Europe’s Digital Chief Vows to Intervene on Technology Abuses

For many American technology companies, it often feels as if Europe is out to get them. At the Mobile World Congress, Andrus Ansip, the digital chief at the European Commission, reaffirmed the region’s tough stance on anticompetitive practices, data protection and tax avoidance. But he tried to play down those concerns by companies in the United States.

Ansip noted that “it’s acceptable that some companies have dominant positions.” But Ansip, the former prime minister of Estonia, added that “if there are doubts that they are abusing their dominant position, of course, the European Commission will be there to intervene.” His comments come as Europe’s antitrust chiefs continue what has been a four-year competition investigation into Google’s dominance of the region’s online search market, of which the company controls roughly 85 percent.