A top House Republican has demanded answers on how the European Union will enforce antitrust regulations against US Big Tech firms – days after President Trump vowed to protect the industry from fines that amount to “overseas extortion.”
House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan outlined his concerns about Europe’s Digital Markets Act in a Sunday letter to EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera. The EU was asked to brief the committee on the issue no later than March 10.
The DMA targets seven companies determined to be the internet’s “gatekeepers” – Google parent Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Booking.com, TikTok parent ByteDance, Meta, Microsoft – with special rules meant to boost competition with smaller rivals and give consumers more choices. Critics allege the law is too restrictive and stifles innovation while targeting US companies.
“We write to express our concerns that the DMA may target American companies, and we request a briefing to understand the commission’s approach to enforcing the DMA,” Jordan said in a letter co-signed by antitrust subcommittee chair Rep. Scott Fitzgerald.
Under the law, EU regulators can impose massive fines of up to 10% of a company’s global revenue for a first offense and 20% for repeated violations. That amounts to tens of billions of dollars for companies like Sundar Pichai-led Alphabet and Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta.
Jordan noted that six of the seven “gatekeepers” are American firms or wholly-owned subsidiaries – and argued that the law’s provisions will “benefit Chinese and European companies that are not subject to the regulations.”
“These severe fines appear to have two goals: to compel businesses to follow European standards worldwide, and as a European tax on American companies,” the letter said.
Jordan’s letter also mentioned that a separate law, Europe’s Digital Services Act, “seeks to censor political speech both in and outside the United States.”
The EU’s enforcement actions toward US firms have contributed to heightened tensions with the Trump administration.
Trump signed a memorandum last week noting that his administration will “consider responsive actions like tariffs to combat the digital service taxes (DSTs), fines, practices, and policies that foreign governments levy on American companies.”
“President Trump will not allow foreign governments to appropriate America’s tax base for their own benefit,” the White House said.
The European Commission, the EU’s competition watchdog, is set to charge Google for violations of the DMA after proposed changes to tactics related to its online search business failed to assuage regulators.
Given Alphabet’s overall revenue of roughly $350 billion in fiscal 2024, a fine of 10% would amount to a whopping $35 billion.
The commission also charged Apple and Meta last year with alleged violations of the DMA.
Zuckerberg recently grumbled about the situation during his appearance on “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast – and said Trump should push back on the fines.
“I think it’s a strategic advantage for the United States that we have a lot of the strongest companies in the world, and I think it should be part of the US strategy going forward to defend that,” Zuckerberg said. “It’s one of the things I’m optimistic about with President Trump is, I think he just wants America to win.”
US Big Tech firms have regularly faced massive fines in Europe in the recent past.
Last year alone, Google lost a fight to overturn a $2.7 billion fine for stifling rival shopping services, but succeeded in challenging a separate $1.7 billion fine related to its digital advertising empire.
Elsewhere, Apple was given a $2 billion antitrust fine for allegedly “abusing a dominant position” in the music streaming industry through its App Store practices. That case arose from a complaint by Spotify.
