US antitrust chiefs pledge to crackdown on Big Tech gatekeeping after European Union’s Digital Markets Act

US antitrust chiefs voiced support for an American crackdown on gatekeeper tech giants a week after the European Union reached a deal reining in the likes of Google and Meta Platforms Inc.

Jonathan Kanter, the head of the Justice Department’s antitrust division, speaking during a conference in Brussels Thursday, said acquisitions of nascent rivals by larger players should be closely scrutinised because such deals over time risk weakening competition in the economy.

“The plain text of our merger laws in the United States demand that we have aggressive enforcement against acquisitions by firms that already possess a dominant position,” Kanter said.

The US has lagged Europe in creating a tougher environment for digital behemoths. Last week, the European Union agreed on a sweeping slate of rules on how tech giants can operate in the bloc known as the Digital Markets Act.

Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan called the law “a landmark proposal to promote fair access to markets controlled by digital gatekeepers”.