Critics of the country’s largest tech companies branded the last few months “Hot Antitrust Summer” because they hoped that Congress would vote on new regulations for Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook.
When the nation’s antitrust laws were created more than a century ago, they were aimed at taking on industries such as Big Oil.
In a stunning setback to regulators’ efforts to break up Facebook, a federal judge on Monday threw out antitrust lawsuits brought against the company by the Federal Trade Commission and more than 40 states.
U.S. House lawmakers on Wednesday began the process of considering a legislative package that would overhaul the nation’s antitrust laws in an attempt to rein in the power of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google.
Executives, lobbyists, and more than a dozen groups paid by Big Tech have tried to head off bipartisan support for six bills meant to undo the dominance of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google.
The European Union has launched an investigation to determine whether Google exerts too much control over the sprawling online marketing industry, in which advertisers can surveil, target and influence consumers through nearly any tech platform in which they engage.
House lawmakers on Friday introduced sweeping antitrust legislation aimed at restraining the power of Big Tech and staving off corporate consolidation across the economy, in what would be the most ambitious update to monopoly laws in decades.
UK and EU regulators are investigating Facebook over whether it is abusing its dominance in digital advertising.
European Union regulators accused Apple on Friday of violating the bloc’s antitrust laws, alleging the iPhone maker distorts competition for music streaming by imposing unfair rules for rival services in its App Store.
Never before have so many countries, including China, moved with such vigor at the same time to limit the power of a single industry.
China fined the internet giant Alibaba a record $2.8 billion this month for anticompetitive practices, ordered an overhaul of its sister financial company and warned other technology firms to obey Beijing’s rules.