--- description: Find out why Margrethe Vestager is one of the 100 most influential people of 2023. title: Margrethe Vestager: The 100 Most Influential People of 2023 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4cb4adc118903306/698a3bcdb3fce310e40ca590/Margrethe-Vestager-time100-2023.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Apr 13, 2023 # Margrethe Vestager by Ayesha Javed  Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, in her office at the Berlaymont, seat of the European Commission, executive institution of the European Union. (Photo by: Martin Bertrand/Majority World/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, in her office at the Berlaymont, seat of the European Commission, executive institution of the European Union. (Photo by: Martin Bertrand/Majority World/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)Martin Bertrand—Majority World/Universal Images Group/Getty Images Known as the E.U.’s digital czar, [Margrethe Vestager](https://time.com/5448795/margrethe-vestager-future/ "undefined") has taken on tech giants Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, and Meta since becoming European Commissioner for Competition in 2014\. Operating far from Silicon Valley, Vestager is leading the global crackdown on the market power of Big Tech companies. Her investigations have resulted in large fines for some, as well as stricter rules. In September, Vestager and the European Commission won a historic battle with Alphabet-owned Google, resulting in a record €4.125 billion ($4.5 billion) fine relating to abuses in the mobile market, which ended up in the E.U. General Court. Now she faces resistance from some of the biggest U.S. companies as the E.U. pushes through rules for reporting foreign subsidies. She may also soon have some new targets in her sight—she has her eye on competition in the [metaverse](https://time.com/section/into-the-metaverse/ "undefined") and has urged an agreement on setting guardrails for [artificial intelligence](https://time.com/6255952/ai-impact-chatgpt-microsoft-google/ "undefined"). _Javed is a TIME senior editor_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269855/margrethe-vestager-2023/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269855/margrethe-vestager-2023/"},"headline":"Margrethe Vestager","datePublished":"2023-04-13T10:32:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:21:55.233Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269855/margrethe-vestager-2023/","keywords":["TIME 100","franchise","sponsorshipblock","TIME100 2023"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4cb4adc118903306/698a3bcdb3fce310e40ca590/Margrethe-Vestager-time100-2023.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4cb4adc118903306/698a3bcdb3fce310e40ca590/Margrethe-Vestager-time100-2023.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269855/margrethe-vestager-2023/","name":"Margrethe Vestager"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME100 | The 100 Most Influential People of 2023","description":"See all the people on Time's 2023 Time 100 list","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/P6RIsapV/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2023-04-13T10:30:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/P6RIsapV.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269855/margrethe-vestager-2023/","duration":"PT1M53S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269855/margrethe-vestager-2023/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```