UK Watchdog Says Break Up US Tech Giants On The Table

Andrea Coscelli, chief executive of the Competition and Markets Authority, has warned that breakups are ‘in play’ if regulators can’t rein in the likes of Facebook, Apple, Google and Amazon. 

He said that break-ups would become an attractive option for the CMA if other countries were also struggling to constrain the big tech firms. The US and the EU have joined efforts to draw up new rules to promote competition online. 

Finger on the pulse: Andrea Coscelli, chief executive of the Competition and Markets Authority, has warned that breakups are ‘in play’

Coscelli made the comments in a speech on regulation as part of a lecture series run by the influential Westminster think-tank the Institute of Economic Affairs. His remarks come after the CMA set up a digital regulator to stop tech companies snapping up smaller rivals that could one day grow into major competitors. 

Coscelli said: ‘It is also important to bear in mind that structural remedies – break-ups – are in play if [new] regulation does not deliver. 

‘In particular, structural remedies become increasingly attractive to us if other jurisdictions are also interested in structural solutions.’ 

The digital regulator – called the Digital Markets Unit – is already operational but will not receive the power to take on the tech giants until new laws pass through Parliament. It is thought that the DMU will be officially launched in 2022.

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