In Europe, the results of next week’s US election will have profound consequences. NATO funding is at risk, as is a potential peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. Estimates suggest that a trade war with Donald Trump could affect GDP in the bloc’s largest economy, Germany, by 1.5 percent. The future of big tech, by comparison, is a sideshow—but a watered-down one. The administration of President Joe Biden ushered in a new era of dealing with startups like Meta, Microsoft and Nvidia, all of which faced legal action during his time in office. A proposal to break up Google is pending.
Unlike many other places in the world where US technology dominates, when the European Union makes new rules, these companies pay attention. During the time of Biden, the EU found an alliance in its ambitions of high technology governance, said Max von Thun, director of Europe and Transatlantic partnership at the Open Markets Institute. “Under Trump or less [former President Barack] Obama, there was this feeling that if the EU went too far, there would be a backlash from the US,” explained von Thun, meaning that the regulators felt that ordering companies to dismantle their businesses was ineffective. “Although under Biden, because the US is pursuing those kinds of remedies, the EU thinks, we can do that too.”
Many in Brussels would like that alignment to continue. Most Europeans listen to American search engines, scroll through American social media feeds, and shop on American ecommerce sites. There are long-standing concerns that the dominance of the Big Five—Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft—is stifling European competition and undermining consumers. This is not just a problem for EU regulators. It’s also confusing the minds of ordinary Americans, according to Democratic pollster Lake Research Partners. A survey of nearly 600 voters in seven key swing states and Ohio found that 67 percent believe corporate power — and a lack of government backing — are among the country’s biggest problems. With the new Digital Markets Act, Europe has made its intention to limit access to tech clear. Enforcing those new rules, however, would be much easier with Buy American.
The big technopolitics in this election is messy. Silicon Valley titans are divided between Democrats and Republicans. Throughout their campaigns, both Trump and Kamala Harris have been noncommittal about how they will regulate the world’s largest corporations. Trump indicated, in no uncertain terms, that “something” must be done about Google, to make the company “more relevant”. Harris, on the other hand, has so far presented whether he agrees with Democratic megadonor and LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman regarding the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) antitrust policy as a “war on American business”.
How far Harris would continue the Biden style of confrontation is unclear. Biden deviated from the policies of his partner, Obama, who also criticized Europe’s Google and Facebook for blaming the protectionist bloc, saying that European companies “can’t compete.” Harris’s own comments on antitrust have been few and far between, although he has long expressed an interest in data protection. “I think that Facebook has experienced a lot of growth and has prioritized its growth over the interest of its consumers – especially in the privacy issue,” he said in an interview with CNN in 2019. he replied: “Yes, I think we should look into that.”
But big Brussels hawks have been closely tracking Harris’ ties to Silicon Valley. His brother-in-law, Tony West, who served as a close adviser, is Uber’s chief legal officer. The company announced in August that it would take unpaid leave to focus on the campaign. Google attorney Karen Dunn has also been linked to Harris, and prepared her for an ABC debate last month.
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