Antitrust cases against large technology companies

Big technology has become too big. Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google are facing very real threats. Their influence on our daily lives comes from various parties: litigation, federal and state legislation, international actions, and the public’s growing distrust of these companies and desire for more. More supervision and enforcement.

In the past few years, these companies have become stronger and stronger, and their business decisions have had a greater impact on our daily lives and society, from what we buy and where to buy to what we see on social media News and opinions. What was once considered to be an exciting and innovative product that improves our lives, for some people, has become a necessary evil with few competitors. For others, these companies provide the services they use and enjoy. For most people, it may be a mixture of the two.

Now we see a bipartisan movement to examine these four companies by testing and expanding the antitrust law and its enforcers. Legislators introduced a series of bipartisan bills in the House of Representatives and Senate. Republican and Democratic state attorneys general have signed a lawsuit accusing them of anti-competitive practices and calling for monetary and structural remedies. At the same time, the Federal Trade Commission and the Antitrust Department of the Department of Justice, now led by outspoken tech giants, will actively enforce antitrust laws: their target is the tech giants. Since the United States sued Microsoft for violating antitrust laws in 1998, we have not seen this test of the technology industry-this lawsuit has led to the rise of the companies under scrutiny today. At the same time, Microsoft managed to avoid the spotlight this time, although it is more valuable than all companies except Apple (depending on the date).

Although these five companies touch our lives in some way—sometimes in ways that we don’t even know, maybe buried in the Internet infrastructure we’ve been using—but many people don’t fully understand that they are being charged again. What is monopoly law or what they do, and why it is not as simple as “split large technology companies” or “let the market decide”. In this five-part series, we will break down the arguments for and against these companies, the challenges they face, and how they and our lives will change if these efforts are successful.

Apple is the king of high-end phones, tablets, laptops and watches. It is also the king of vertical integration: it has an iPhone, an operating system and an App Store, which is the only way for external developers to get apps on the iPhone. Apple even made some applications of its own. Now, the company is accused of abusing control of its mobile devices, harming competition, stifling innovation and raising prices. Apple stated that it only provides customers with what they want and expect.

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Amazon (coming soon)

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Amazon occupies a dominant position in the e-commerce field and has a very profitable cloud computing department, but some people say that this dominance comes at a price, from relying on its Marketplace platform or directly to Amazon, warehouses and delivery workers, and consumers The company pays for sales. Now, the company is facing antitrust lawsuits and complaints in the United States and abroad, as well as threats from laws that prohibit it from preferentially choosing its own products.

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Google (coming soon)

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The structure of Google and the Internet is so intertwined that it is actually a synonym for Internet search. It dominates the global smartphone operating system, web browser, email provider, search engine and digital advertising market. Allegedly, the abuse of this dominant position has led to almost all state attorneys general and the Department of Justice being fined billions of dollars for overseas violations of antitrust laws and antitrust lawsuits.

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Facebook (coming soon)

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Facebook, now called Meta, is a social media giant. It profited billions of dollars from targeted advertising based on our data and was accused of spending some of the billions to acquire potential competitors, either to kill them or use them to ensure its dominance . Regulators now want to split Meta into independent companies, but this is not easy.

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Microsoft (coming soon)

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Microsoft is one of the most valuable listed companies in the world. Its Windows operating system is by far the most important. It has made some large-scale acquisitions. This is of course a large technology company. However, it is largely excluded from large technology companies, perhaps because it had its own version 20 years ago. Microsoft’s past may herald the future of the four major technology companies.

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credit

reporter: Sarah Morrison, Shireen Gaffari
edit: Adam Clark Estes, Samantha Altman
Photo editor: Beata Hornaval
Graphics: Amanda Northrop
Editor-in-chief: Nisha Chital
Copy edit: Elizabeth Klein, Tim Williams
got engaged: Sheila Tallow