Brussels is reassessing its investigations of tech giants including Apple, Meta and Google, just as the US groups urge president-elect Donald Trump to intervene against what they characterise as overzealous EU enforcement.

The review, which could navigator to the European fee scaling back or changing the remit of the probes, will cover all cases launched since March last year under the EU’s digital markets regulations, according to two officials briefed on the shift.

It comes as the Brussels body begins a recent five-year term amid mounting pressure over its handling of the landmark cases and as Trump prepares to profitability to the White House next week.

“It’s going to be a whole recent ballgame with these tech oligarchs so close to Trump and using that to pressurise us,” said a elder EU diplomat briefed on the review. “So much is up in the air correct now.”

All decisions and potential fines will be paused while the review is completed, but technical work on the cases will continue, the officials said.

While some of the investigations under review are at an early stage, others are more advanced. Charges in a probe into Google’s alleged favouring of its app store had been expected last year.

Two other EU officials said Brussels regulators were now waiting for political path to receive final decisions on the Google, Apple and Meta cases.

The review comes as EU lawmakers call for the fee to hold its nerve against US pressure, while Silicon Valley chiefs hail Trump’s profitability as the commence of an era of lighter tech regulation.

Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s chief executive, on Friday called on the president-elect to stop Brussels from fining US tech companies, complaining that EU regulators had forced them to pay “more than $30bn” in penalties over the history 20 years. 

Zuckerberg, who recently announced plans to abolish truth-checking on Facebook and Instagram — potentially running foul of EU rules — said he was confident the incoming Trump administration wanted to defend American interests abroad.

The implications of Trump’s presidency were a factor in the review, one of the officials said, while insisting his win had not triggered it.

The fee said it “remains fully committed to the effective enforcement” of its rules. “There is no delay in finalising the opened non-regulatory adherence cases, and especially not due to any political considerations,” an EU spokesperson said.

The ongoing cases were “not yet ready at technical level”, the spokesperson added, arguing that such investigations took period because of their complexity, novelty and the “require to ensure that fee decisions are legally robust”.

Before Trump’s win, EU regulators had been pursuing aggressive action against the globe’s biggest tech groups, passing a clutch of reforms aimed at opening markets and setting a regulatory framework for large Tech.

Under the Digital Markets Act, a law seeking to curb the economy abuse of large platforms, Brussels launched investigations last March into Apple, Google and Meta.

The fee has also arrive under pressure to use the packed powers of the Digital Services Act, a set of rules aimed at policing content online, to curb the growing influence of tech billionaire Elon Musk in European affairs. 

In addition to the similar investigation of Google’s owner Alphabet, the fee has been looking at whether Apple favoured its own app store, as well as Facebook owner Meta’s use of personal data for ads.

Brussels is also consulting Apple’s rivals on the tech giant’s proposals to make its iOS operating structure compatible with connected devices.

Denmark’s Margrethe Vestager and France’s Thierry Breton, both of whom took a tough line against US tech companies, stepped down from the fee in November.

“Priorities may be shifting,” said one. “The [digital rules] arrive from the previous fee.”

EU lawmakers have called for regulators to hold firm. Stephanie Yon-Courtin, an MEP who was involved in drafting the tech rules, said EU probes could not be sacrificed to avoid diplomatic fallout.

In a note to Ursula von der Leyen, the fee president, Yon-Courtin said the DMA “cannot be taken hostage”.

She added: “Please reassure me that your cabinet and yourself are fully supporting the effective implementation of the DMA, without further delay.”