Feds say US big tech is targeted by unfair regulations overseas

The US House Judiciary Subcommittee is conducting a hearing on US big tech discrimination by Europe and others, with witnesses saying that the regulations popping up harm the global economy and stifle innovation.

The White House has previously said that it will not tolerate the European Union's fining firms such as Apple and Meta. Then on Monday, the US paused its agreed $200 billion technology deal with the UK, as it presses for more concessions.

At 10 AM on December 16, the US House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust began a hearing on how foreign nations target American firms. It is ostensibly a hearing to "examine the threat that discriminatory foreign regulations... pose to American innovation and competition."

While it will take evidence from expert witnesses, the hearing's official site makes it clear that the committee has no doubt that such discrimination is happening.

"The hearing will highlight the Committee's efforts to push back against the spread of foreign regulations," it says.

The three expert witnesses are presenting written testimony that totals over 60,000 words. Dirk Auer, director of competition policy at the International Center for Law and Economics, for instance, argues that EU regulations have "become unmistakably politicized," and the Digital Markets Act was "pitched even by its framers as a tool to target American success."

Aurelien Portuese from the George Washington Competition & Innovation Lab agrees. Portuese says that the DMA was "expressly crafted with discriminatory intent."

Then Shanker Singham from the Competere Foundation will argue that the EU, China, and others have failed to develop their own comparable digital businesses. These regions have impeded development and now have a "big is bad" attitude to US success.

These three are the only ones listed as witnesses in the Committee's official site for the hearing. There does not appear to be a contribution from any European region or other country.

The committee is also due to preside over an unrelated hearing starting at 2:00 P.M. Eastern on Tuesday. It is not yet clear whether the anti-American sentiment session will conclude today.

What is known is that there will not be a vote or a mandate issued during the hearing. There will also most likely not be a timeline for further discovery or action set.