I’m Kara Swisher and you’re listening to “Sway.” There’s one name that gets all the tech bros shaking in their Allbirds — no, not Kara Swi

Meet Big Tech’s Tormenter in Chief

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2021-06-14 16:30:04

I’m Kara Swisher and you’re listening to “Sway.” There’s one name that gets all the tech bros shaking in their Allbirds — no, not Kara Swisher, but thanks for thinking of me. I’m talking about Margrethe Vestager, the European Union’s top antitrust enforcer. She’s a regulator with a knack for hitting tech giants where it hurts, their profits. In 2019, she slapped Apple —

And her work is far from over. Her office is proposing new legislation that could force big tech to change the way it operates, legislation that could come into force next year. So where is Silicon Valley’s, quote, tormentor in chief going next? Margrethe Vestager, welcome to “Sway.”

You’ve had a lot of big political wins over your many years as commissioner. And you and I have talked about them for a long time, and the fines against Apple and Google got a lot of attention. But let’s start with a recent loss. The European Commission ordered Amazon to pay $303 million in back taxes to Luxembourg, but Amazon won the appeal last month. Did the court get it wrong, or is there some issue with the way you charged them?

Well, as we speak, it’s actually difficult to say. We think it may be some of the same reasons as to why we lost the Apple case. So right now, we’re analyzing it to see if we have good grounds to appeal. So far, it seems that some of the same issues as in the Apple judgment that we appealed to the general court of justice.

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