Any political brief that brings with it the near certainty of future confrontation with Elon Musk is not to be envied. But during a recent interview with this newspaper, Henna Virkkunen, the European Union’s most senior official on digital policy, was in bullish mood. “We are very committed to our rules when it comes to the digital world,” said Ms Virkkunen, who is the EU vice-president responsible for tech sovereignty. “We want to make sure that our digital environment … is fair and it’s safe and it’s also democratic.”
Last week, words were followed by deeds. In the first sanctions handed down since the establishment of the EU’s Digital Markets Act, the European Commission fined Apple €500m and Meta €200m, after finding them guilty of unfair business practices that exploited their entrenched online “gatekeeper” position. Apple, for example, was judged to have unfairly restricted developers from distributing apps outside its own App Store, where it takes a cut from sales.
