Why the EU’s Google Antitrust Case Is Misplaced in the AI Era

The European Union is once again turning its antitrust scrutiny toward Google, this time in artificial intelligence. But as Joseph Coniglio argues in The National Interest, regulators are misreading both the market and the law. The European Commission’s latest investigation risks reviving enforcement theories ill-suited to the fast-moving and highly competitive AI era.

The Commission is examining whether Google is abusing its dominance by using content from web publishers and YouTube creators to train its AI models. But Coniglio notes that any claim of dominance in a market for AI foundation models should raise eyebrows. The AI space is characterized by rapid entry, heavy investment, and technological churn, with Google facing intense competition from other major U.S. tech firms, fast-growing AI developers, and European players such as Mistral AI.

Coniglio also questions why Google’s alleged conduct is harmful. While the use of third-party data to train AI models can raise legitimate intellectual property or contractual issues, he argues that such concerns are not properly addressed through antitrust enforcement.

Rather than targeting collusive or exclusionary conduct, the Commission is invoking its rarely used authority to police “exploitative” offenses by assessing whether Google’s practices reflect “unfair terms and conditions.” Coniglio warns that this theory goes well beyond U.S. antitrust standards and risks turning competition law enforcement into regulation, with the Commission positioning itself to dictate acceptable compensation and contractual terms between private parties.

The stakes, Coniglio emphasizes, extend beyond a single firm. In an era of intensifying techno-economic competition with China, preserving the transatlantic alliance between the United States and Europe is critical. By closing the investigation without issuing a statement of objections, the EU could send a positive signal that reflexive targeting of U.S. tech firms will not define its competition policy in the age of AI.

Read the full op-ed in The National Interest.