The U.S. government is gearing up to investigate whether Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google misuse their massive market power, sources told Reuters on Monday, setting up what could be an unprecedented, wide-ranging probe of some of the world’s largest companies.
The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice, which enforce antitrust laws in the United States, have divided oversight over the four companies, two sources said, with Amazon and Facebook under the watch of the FTC, and Apple and Google under the Justice Department.
With jurisdiction established, the next step is for the two federal agencies to decide if they want to open formal investigations. Results are not likely to be quick. A previous FTC probe of Google took more than two years.
Related: Big Tech Is Big Brother (h/t Jim)
The only thing Orwell got wrong was the size of the screens.
Yeah, you’re not going to like how this ends.
This definitely signals the beginning of the end for these companies. If the US government thinks these companies are unstoppable, they’re ripe to be taken down.
Don’t believe me? Go and ask a millennial if they believe bundling Internet Explorer with every purchase of Windows gives Microsoft an unbreakable stranglehold on the tech world.
The one I’d like to see obliterated is TWATTER….
THAT my freinds would make my day and destroy theirs, the SJWs’ – the REAL NAZI’s in our midst.
I am a retiree and an economist, so I watched much of the business news on BNN and CNBC yesterday, and the news hosts were all aflutter with the sharp drops in Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook. Most of the commentary was anti-Trump, to be sure, but the sharp drops are a welcome development. One of the failures of the Trump administration, and of the Republicans, as been the lack of meaningful actions to bring these fat-cat oligopolies to heel. There are two issues: the flagrant use of personal information and the corrupt silencing of conservative opinion.
South of the border, uber-left-wing senator Elizabeth “Pocahontas” Warren has taken the lead in demanding that these tech-oligopoly establishments be broken up. This speaks badly of our conservative leaders that she is the one taking up this cause.
As a small, retail investor, I will not touch the FAANG stocks. Multi-billionaire CEOs stepping on stage in jeans; billionaires giving millions to the Democratic Party and left-wing charities; oligopies with stock prices in the hundreds and thousands of dollars per share; stocks that pay zero dividends to investors; oligopies; oligopolies that run the San Francisco city government that has turned the city into a hell hole — that’s not for me.
(Sorry, this post is meant to be a reply to Kevin’s post, and not Steakman’s post)
None taken David….Good comments..
I happen to agree with you 1000%.
Back in the 70s and early 80s the trust busters were flipping out over IBM’s stranglehold on the mainframe computer industry, which, if left unchecked, would cause the sky to fall. Last I looked, the sky did not fall. It’s no different this time. The leadership of many industries are dominated by liberals due to their dominance of our society’s broad cultural narratives. This will not be affected by the application of some anti-trust statute.
Exactly. And breaking them up won’t do anything to help.
At best, the same people who own Ma Google will own the Baby Googles. At worst, it will be much easier for Chinese proxies to take over a Baby Google than its Ma.
What actually needs doing is for the FAG firms to be nationalized without compensation, their management purged and replaced with loyal Anericans—and their treasure trove of incriminating information on traitors and perverts handed over to state and local law enforcement before being made available to a candid world.
Give the globalist admirers of China’s basic dictatorship what they think they want. If we can’t enjoy privacy, neither should they.
How will you solve the problems created by socialism by instituting socialism? How will conservative parties plan to win every election from now until eternity?
I’m not optimistic that this will get anywhere given prior tech anti-trust results, but I’m glad someone is at least trying.
But they are all private enterprises built on capitalism and S.T.E.M. – your ultimate fantasy. To make a constitutional argument against them is a (gasp!) appeal to the liberal arts.