DOJ Opens Sweeping Anti-Trust Probe Into Big Tech Firms
This could be the start of something big. We have witnessed a lot of abuse at the hands of Big Tech, specifically Google, Facebook, and Twitter. These three companies have engaged in an all-out assault on free speech in America for the last three years. Moreover, companies like Google and Facebook have become notorious for their over-the-top violations of individual privacy rights. There is a simple rule to remember when you use one of these apps: "if they are not selling a product, YOU are the product!" Google, Facebook, and Twitter make a lot of money (a. lot. of. money) by harvesting the information and data of their users and selling it. Big Tech makes money through Big Data. This will be a case to follow with interest.
The Department of Justice is opening a sweeping anti-trust review to determine whether the country’s leading technology firms are stifling competition in violation of federal law, it announced Tuesday.“Without the discipline of meaningful market-based competition, digital platforms may act in ways that are not responsive to consumer demands,” Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim of the Antitrust Division said in a statement announcing the remarkably broad probe. “The Department’s antitrust review will explore these important issues.”The Antitrust Division will work to determine whether companies such as Facebook, Google, and Apple have “reduced competition, stifled innovation, or otherwise harmed consumers” as they’ve grown dramatically in recent years and begun expanding into various industries by acquiring smaller potential competitors. The Federal Trade Commission is conducting a separate, more limited investigation into potential monopolistic abuses by Facebook and Amazon.