EU: Obama comments on European antitrust case

In a recent interview with Kara Swisher from Re/code Obama said Europe’s concern about privacy for users of Facebook and Google are “more commercially driven than anything else.” He said European companies that “can’t compete with ours” are using the issue to try to put up “roadblocks” for U.S. tech firms.

The European Union continues to hold out in its long-standing antitrust case against Google while the U.S. settled years ago over the same issues. In November, the European Parliament passed a non-binding resolution to break up Google, after it made Google hide search results about people who want them zapped. In response Obama said the European companies were sore losers and were using their governments to gain footing against American rivals on Friday.

“In defense of Google and Facebook, sometimes the European response here is more commercially driven than anything else,” Obama said on this one-on-one with Kara Swisher.

“We have owned the Internet. Our companies have created it, expanded it, perfected it, in ways they can’t compete. And oftentimes what is portrayed as high-minded positions on issues sometimes is designed to carve out their commercial interests.”

The president also discussed the ongoing issue over privacy and protection as his administration.

Full Content: SF Gate

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