US tech giants under pressure, scrutiny

London

IT IS not a good week to be a giant American tech company in Europe. The European anti-trust investigation into Google appears to be heating up. More European countries are looking into Facebook's privacy settings. And Apple, already under scrutiny for its low corporate tax arrangements in Ireland, is facing potential anti-trust questions from the European Commission about its new music streaming service expected this year.

The new developments offer the latest and perhaps clearest sign yet that US tech giants face intensifying scrutiny in Europe - pressure that could potentially curb their sizable profits in the region and affect how they operate around the world.

It is unclear what exactly set off the recent flurry of moves. But many local lawmakers have long been wary of the dominance of US tech companies, and those politicians have become increasingly outspoken about how the companies have used their financial deep pockets to innovate quickly to outm…