EU’s antitrust policy against U.S. based big tech: Protecting European consumers from Google Search and Amazon e-books

The focus of this research paper is to address the state of competition in the European high-tech industry from the perspective of its main beneficiaries, the consumers. This is done by assessing the antitrust policy of the European Commission against U.S. based multinationals, the “big tech”. By choosing Google and Amazon as the representative firms, I draw upon recent antitrust cases and secondary literature related to the Android Operating system and Amazon e-books to examine whether the European Commission’s antitrust authorities have acted in a way that improves consumer welfare. The analysis of the arguments for and against government intervention is executed through competing antitrust doctrines: Chicago and Ordoliberal approach. I find that in both cases, the business practices under scrutiny have pro-competitive rationale that can bring benefits to consumers. I do not find direct evidence that the EU’s antitrust policy would be used to protect European companies from foreign competition