Apple, Google, Meta targeted under new European law meant to prevent cornering of digital markets

LONDON (AP) — European Union regulators opened investigations into Apple, Google and Meta on Monday, the first cases under a sweeping new law designed to stop Big Tech companies from cornering digital markets.

The European Commission, the 27-nation bloc’s executive arm, said it was investigating the companies for “non-compliance” with the Digital Markets Act.

The Digital Markets Act that took full effect earlier this month is a broad rulebook that targets Big Tech “gatekeeper” companies providing “core platform services.” Those companies must comply with a set of do’s and don’ts, under threat of hefty financial penalties or even breaking up businesses. The rules have the broad but vague goal of making digital markets “fairer” and “more contestable” by breaking up closed tech ecosystems that lock consumers into a single company’s products or services.

The commission has heard complaints that tech companies’ measures to comply have fallen short, European Commission Vice President Margrethe Vestager, the bloc’s competition chief, said at a press briefing in Brussels.

“Today, we decided to investigate a number of these suspected non-compliance issues. And as we unearth other problems, we will tackle those too.”

The decision was met with immediate pushback from industry groups like the Computer & Communications Industry Association, a not-for-profit trade group in Washington that represents tech and communications companies.

Trump’s social media company to start trading on the Nasdaq on Tuesday

Trump Media & Technology Group, whose flagship product is social networking site Truth Social, will begin trading on the Nasdaq stock market on Tuesday.

Shareholders of Digital World Acquisition Corp., a publicly traded shell company, approved a deal to merge with the Trump’s media business in a Friday vote.

Shares of Digital World have been volatile. On Friday the stock slumped 13.7% after the merger was approved. In afternoon trading Monday soared 22% to $45.40.

Former president Donald Trump is set to own most of the combined company — or nearly 79 million shares. Multiply that by Digital World’s closing stock price Friday of $36.94, and the total value of his stake could be nearly $3 billion.

Trump won’t be able to cash out his stake in the Palm Beach, Florida-based company immediately, unless the company’s board makes changes to a “lock-up” provision that prevents company insiders from selling newly issued shares for six months.

The former president was in New York Monday attending a hearing on his criminal hush money case. Elsewhere, a New York appeals court reduced his $454 million civil fraud judgment to $175 million if he puts up that amount within 10 days.

Trump Media lost $49 million in the first nine months of last year, when it brought in just $3.4 million in revenue and had to pay $37.7 million in interest expenses. The common stock of Trump Media & Technology Group will trade under the ticker symbol “DJT.”

Energy agency announces $6 billion to slash emissions in industrial facilities

The Biden administration announced $6 billion in funding Monday for projects that will slash emissions from the industrial sector — the largest-ever U.S. investment to decarbonize domestic industry to fight climate change.

The industrial sector is responsible for roughly 25% of all the nation’s emissions, and has proven difficult to decarbonize due to its energy-intense, large-scale operations.

Iron, steel, aluminum, food and beverage, concrete and cement facilities are some of those involved in this initiative. Recipients of the funding, which is coming from the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, include 33 demonstration projects in more than 20 states.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said during a call with news media that the technologies being funded are “replicable,” “scalable,” and will “set a new gold standard for clean manufacturing in the United States and around the world.” White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi said this funding aims to eliminate 14 million metric tons of pollution each year, equivalent to taking about 3 million cars off the road.