EU: Vestager singles out Google, Facebook and Apple for abusing dominance

The European Union on Monday denounced the “shocking” revelations on the way top companies and dignitaries. EU finance ministers meeting for regular talks in Brussels will discuss tax avoidance on Tuesday after a trove of leaked documents exposed the great lengths to which the global elite will go to avert paying a fair tax.

The findings have emerged as part of the Paradise Papers released late Sunday by the US-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which was behind the similar Panama Papers made public last year.

EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager, who has cracked down on EU countries making illegal tax breaks to Apple and Amazon, lauded the journalists who made the latest revelations.

“Congratulations and thanks to ICIJ for all the work done on Paradise Papers. It enables the work against tax avoidance, for transparency,” said Vestager in a tweet.

Also this week in a conference in Lisbon, Vestager hit out at technology companies for undermining democracy and allowing “fear” and “greed” to drive anti-competitive behavior. Ms Vestager singled out Google, Facebook and Apple for cutting corners and distorting competition by abusing their market dominance.

“We want free markets but we understand the paradox of free markets which is that sometimes we have to intervene. We have to believe that it’s not the law of the jungle but the law of democracy that works.” Vestager said.

“The motives that are breaching competition law are as old as Adam and Eve,” Ms Vestager said. “It’s about greed. Fear. And when you combine that with power you get a very poisonous cocktail.” she added.

Full Content: Financial Times

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