Kim Mackrael

The Trump administration is ramping up attacks on Europe’s digital rules, opening a new front in Washington’s pressure campaign on longtime allies that combines assertions of defending free speech with efforts to protect commercial interests. Much of the initiative is led by the State Department, which sent a request to its offices around Europe seeking “examples of government efforts to limit freedom of speech.” The push centers on European Union legislation that aims to establish standards for how tech giants should police online content.

Google lost most of its appeal to overturn the largest antitrust fine it has so far faced globally, a boost to the European Union’s campaign to rein in alleged anticompetitive conduct by big tech companies.

Amazon has proposed concessions to settle two antitrust cases against it in the European Union, a fresh sign of changing strategy from big tech companies after the bloc passed a strict new digital-competition law. The US-based online retailer offered a pledge not to use nonpublic data about sellers on its marketplace, after the EU accused Amazon of violating competition law by using nonpublic information from merchants to compete against them. The European Commission, the bloc’s top competition regulator, said it was seeking feedback on commitments offered by Amazon to settle the cases.