EU crackdown hasn’t made US tech change its behaviour

Apple and Google have found easy ways to circumvent the Competition Commissioner’s demands

Apple: the US tech company has been slow to pay back taxes demanded by the EU Picture: Getty

A pattern is emerging in the war between the European Union’s antitrust authorities and US tech companies. The changes that Google and Apple made after adverse rulings and large fines appear to be little but window-dressing, and left intact the problems the penalties were intended to solve.

In June 2017, the European Commission fined Google €2.4 billion ($2.8 billion) for giving priority to its price comparison service, Google Shopping, over rival services in ...