About: Google

Updating copyright rules for news: There’s a better way

The EU Copyright directive should avoid making reforms that takes away publishers’ choices about how to distribute and make money with their content online, writes Richard Gingras.

Loopholes the size of a double-decker bus would make a mockery of the Copyright Reform

Lawmakers must ensure that the new EU copyright directive protects press publishers and their right to assert their copyright in the digital age, argues Christian van Thillo.

Legislating with blinkers: the EU’s copyright reform is up for the vote

Europe’s creative sector is without doubt very important to our economy. Over the past decades, it has grown, mainly due to what is arguably Europe’s (and the world’s) most valuable shared economic asset: the internet. Ursula Pachl explains.

Commission vs. Android: Killing the cow for a steak

Competition is what makes the world a better place, not intelligent design by God or by bureaucrats. Therefore, protecting competition is one of the key responsibilities of the European Commission. But in the case of Android, it is about to make a huge mistake, writes Žiga Turk.

The EU’s fake news fraud

The war against fake news is exaggerated and overwrought. If anything, European policymakers are engaging in their own form of dishonest, hysterical yellow news policymaking, argues William Echikson.

EU copyright directive means trouble for our startups

Startups in Europe can only be successful if they have solid rules in the online space. But in an attempt to limit the power of tech giants, the European Union risks hampering the next generation of European startups too, writes Lenard Koschwitz.

EU dithering on Google probe is costing jobs

The EU’s antitrust case against Google should be widened to cover the local search market. Lack of competition in this domain harms consumers, EU companies and the Digital Single Market, writes Kostas Rossoglou.

Using online technology to beat hate

Hate is brewing in society, and its expression through online speech is real and corrosive. Internet companies and NGOs are now working with the EU to fight back, writes Robin Sclafani.

How the gig economy is changing employment

The advent of the gig economy has brought fundamental changes to the way in which we access goods and services and turned traditional business models on their head.  Denis Pennel considers its impact on employment and the likely implications for the future of work.

Avoiding the pitfalls of mobile fragmentation

With 500 million downloads in its first month, PokemonGo was last summer’s greatest hit. Hundreds, thousands, even millions of people began to spend hours glued to their smartphones in the hope of catching strange creatures.

Europe in the great new age of communication

Regulation can improve the competitive environment and give consumers a better deal, but the EU’s proposal to enforce “neutrality” on internet platforms does the opposite, argues Diego Zuluaga.

Will we lead or be led?

The European Union is the biggest economy and largest trading bloc in the world, yet our position in the global economy has been decreasing in relative terms. A fully integrated single market can help put us back on top, writes Joseph Daul.

EU’s ‘Right to Be Forgotten’ policy sets bad precedent for free expression

Last week’s announcement that Google will begin suppressing links to URLs not only for searches on EU country-level domains, but also for searches conducted from within EU countries, is bad news, write Jens-Henrik Jeppesen and Emma Llansó.

Digital platforms: Competition and government oversight

Catriona Meehan proposes a series of questions that governments should ask in order to ensure fair competition between digital platforms and app developers. 

Fast-moving tech markets undermine Europe’s Google investigation

The European Commission’s investigation of Google proves it is living in the past, argues Gary Shapiro.

The Google case shows why competition policy in the digital economy needs to change

The European Commission’s antitrust case against Google is the latest in a series of attempts to prevent tech giants from monopolising EU markets. But past cases against Intel and Microsoft illustrate the need to review the EU’s outdated competition policy, argues Diego Zuluaga.

The European Commission should think carefully before acting on FTC Google memo

European regulators should ignore the misleading publicity surrounding the US Federal Trade Commission’s anti-competition case against Google and concentrate on finding the facts, argues Thomas Leary.

Cause for EU optimism on the digital front

The widespread gloom and doom about Europe’s ability to compete in the digital economy is misplaced, writes Matt Brittin.

Google News’ exit from Spain a wake-up call for journalism’s future

The current impasse between news publishers and Google is in some ways inevitable. But what we need to remember is that news is a special product that deserves special consideration. Without it, the voting publics of our democracies could not stay informed, writes William F. Baker, Ph.D.

Breaking up Google

Picking a fight at such a high level with Google would damage the reputation of the European Parliament, writes Kaja Kallas.

Europe’s creative industry is at the mercy of Google

For Europe's creative sector, the threat now and in the future does not come from the imbalances of the banking system, but from one company whose dominant position imposes its business model on the entire market: Google, writes Ana Gomes.

Mining government data: Whither the European Commission?

As governments move towards the cloud, they need to be wary of the possibility for significant adverse consequences. National security might be compromised, government integrity eroded and even the safety of public officials threatened, writes Paul Rosenzweig.

A Google tax to support the ailing press?

Closing the loopholes in tax laws that unfairly benefit Google must be clearly distinguished from the discussion of possible support to the ailing press, writes Jan Malinowski.