When Margrethe Vestager last appeared on our Recode Decode podcast, in September 2016, she had already made a name for herself as Europe’s commissioner for competition, launching an antitrust case against Google and an investigation into how Apple pays taxes.
But now, as it becomes clearer how those companies were used to manipulate the 2016 U.S. elections, Vestager feels validated in her distrust of Silicon Valley’s power. Speaking with Recode’s Kara Swisher at the 2017 Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal, she said the government has to move fast to ensure that tech does not subvert society.
“We want a free market, but we know that the paradox of a ‘free’ market is that sometimes you have to intervene,” she said. “You have to make sure it’s not the law of the jungle, but the laws of democracy that works.”
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On the new podcast, Vestager said her…
