The EU appoints Anthony Whelan as its top competition official; Whelan says he will press ahead with Big Tech investigations despite President Trump's pressure

New chief, familiar fight

Anthony Whelan has been named the European Union’s top competition official and says he will continue aggressive oversight of major technology companies, signalling no retreat from a policy that has made Brussels a thorn in Silicon Valley’s side. Short sentence. Tough stance. Regulators in the bloc have spent years probing platforms and digital markets; Whelan’s appointment looks like more of the same — only with new teeth.

Big Tech remains in the crosshairs

It has been reported that President Trump allegedly applied pressure for a softer approach, but Whelan says investigations will proceed. Which side will win this tug-of-war: geopolitics or rule-of-law regulation? The answer matters for Apple, Google, Amazon and Meta, all of which face ongoing EU inquiries into market dominance, self-preferencing and consumer choice. For the tech giants, Brussels has become an unavoidable compliance battleground — think Microsoft in the 1990s, but with ads, app stores and data instead of bundling.

What comes next

Expect enforcement, and expect litigation. Multibillion-euro fines, mandated behavioural remedies, and long legal fights in EU courts are all on the table. For European policymakers, this is about more than penalties; it’s about shaping the rules of the digital economy at a time when governments worldwide are rewriting the playbook on platform power. For companies and investors, the message is clear: regulatory risk is not going away — it’s intensifying.

Sources: ft.com