Big Tech threatened with sanctions if they refuse to work with the EU
The EU's head of digital policy, Margrethe Vestager, has warned tech giants they will receive a flurry of laws and sanctions against them from various member states across the EU unless they work with them to settle their disputes.
This comes as part of an ongoing grievance the EU have with Big Tech and their market dominance in the bloc.
The Commission has vowed to curb their power by any means necessary and have already ramped up sanctions against primarily US-based tech giants in the past.
Read more: EU to impose tougher rules on Big Tech
The EU has recently put forth proposals for a new Digital Services Act and a Digital Markets Act to create a fairer playing field as well as add a degree of responsibility for the content posted on them.
Brussels is reportedly looking to act quickly for the new legislation to be put in place. Officials hope the new bills could be in place within 18 months.
However, many officials are also concerns over the potential for unilateral action to be taken against tech giants by countries impatient with the rate of progress.
Hungary has recently considered sanctions on tech giants over what they see as an overreach of free speech and alleged censorship of particular views.
Read more: Hungary to consider sanctions against tech giants
France, Germany, Denmark and Austria have also looked to pass national laws into handling the issue.
The UK, which left the EU on January 1, has also got similar laws in place and has been dealing with issues related to tech giants such as Google and Amazon.
They also recently considered blocking non-compete clauses to incentivise local tech startups.
Vestager warned it is within the best interest of tech companies to work with the EU, seeing these national efforts as "encouragement" despite Big Tech's warnings that these laws could fracture pan-European enforcement.
She added: “I think that is really a very strong argument to say to the platforms: ‘Well, you either have this or you would have a completely fragmented European legal system.’
“The French and the German and actually a number of other member states, they are pushing this for exactly the same reasons as we are pushing this.
“EU legislation may be strict, it may put a lot of obligations and a number of restrictions on what they can do, but at least it has pan-European scale.”
The EU has faced prior criticism for their slow speed in attempting to rein in tech giants.
Read more: The EU has been too slow in tackling Big Tech, external auditor says
This dispute began in 2010 when the EU launched an antitrust investigation into Google's online shopping comparison service, but the tech giant has been appealing the €2.4 billion fine since it was ruled against them.
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