The European Union (EU) is rethinking investigations into a number of U.S. tech giants, including Meta (META), Apple (AAPL), and Alphabet (GOOGL), amid mounting lobbying of incoming president Trump by the industry, the Financial Times reported.
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It’s thought that a review into a series of probes under the EU digital markets regulations is underway as the European Commission (EC), the executive branch of the EU, also begins a new five-year term, marking the end of an era with Margrethe Vestager as the EU’s top antitrust official.
Specifically, officials briefed on the situation told the FT that the EU was waiting for a political steer to guide their future enforcement. Investigative work will continue but any decisions or fines will wait until the review is finished.
META Calls on Trump to Act Against EU
Silicon Valley has long complained about EU actions, but in an unexpected turn, tech companies are increasingly swinging behind Trump as well. Last week META boss Mark Zuckerberg called on the president-elect to stop the EU fining U.S. firms.
“I think it’s a strategic advantage for the United States that we have a lot of the strongest companies in the world, I think it should be part of the U.S. strategy going forward to defend that, and it’s one of the things that I’m optimistic about with President Trump,” he said.
Fines for META Mounting
META, which recently abolished fact-checkers for Facebook and Instagram, has been forced to pay $30 billion in fines in the last 20 years, said Zuckerberg.
In November, the company was ordered to pay a fine of €800 million ($821 million) for Facebook breaking EU rules on classified ads practices. Vestager had said META had stifled competition by tying free Marketplace services with the social network.
Incidentally, the decision to scrap fact-checkers could see the company run up against EU regulators once more.
But the review reported today by the FT suggests that both the EU and U.S. will want to see how the dust settles as both tack in a new direction politically.
Is META a Good Stock to Buy?
Overall, Wall Street has a Strong Buy consensus rating on META stock, based on 40 Buys, three Holds and one Sell. The average META price target of $688.34 implies around 13% upside from current levels. Shares of META have risen 66% in the past year.
