Big Tech Antitrust Probe

[Captainant 27448]

Justice Department announces broad antitrust review of big tech

Quote

The Department of Justice on Tuesday announced it is opening a wide-ranging antitrust review of “market-leading online platforms,” an unprecedented probe of the tech industry that could heighten calls for Amazon, Facebook and Google to be broken up.

The effort aims to explore “widespread concerns that consumers, businesses, and entrepreneurs have expressed about search, social media, and some retail services online,” according to the agency. It did not mention any major tech giant by name, but its stated interests track closely with Google’s dominance in search, Facebook’s leadership in social media and Amazon’s position as the country’s e-commerce leader. All three control vast amounts of data that give them an edge over smaller rivals, critics say.

[Never-Googlers: Web users take the ultimate step to guard their data]

Justice Department officials said they would “seek redress” if in the course of their investigation they find tech companies committed violations of federal competition laws.

The review taps into intensifying, bipartisan fears that tech giants have grown too large and powerful, threatening rivals, harming consumers and undermining innovations. It could sweep up the whole of Silicon Valley into the government’s regulatory crosshairs, a broad inquiry that mirrors Justice Department probes from generations ago into entire industries, such as oil and gas.

If it weren't the trump admin doing this, I'd be pretty onboard with this. It's strange that this is the next big thing that trump/GOP is zeroing in on. Cruz has spent the last couple of senate judiciary hearings on this caterwauling about how hard it is to be a conservative on the internet because of corporate censorship - and trump isn't really getting the boost from twitter and facebook like he used to. I guess this is the new shiny thing to be horrified by to distract from the concentration camps, unlawful imprisonment of US citizens, racist tweets, and a litany of other bullshit that's covered in other threads. 

Buckle up buckaroos. This is gonna be a wacky one

[David Dennison 18655]

This will turn into breaking up Amazon.

Just watch.

[WhatTheBuck 28710]

19 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

This will turn into breaking up Amazon.

Just watch.

Which should happen, just probably under more capable hands. 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23356]

Are we pretending these tech companies can’t buy off the Trump administration? 

[tx 3 putt 76357]

Elect a clown and you get a circus 

[workswithseed 2036]

Good, fuck them.

[David Dennison 18655]

36 minutes ago, WhatTheBuck said:

Which should happen, just probably under more capable hands. 

It should, but this is about Donald Trump being dumb enough to think breaking up Amazon will somehow hurt Jeff Bezos.

 

[TornACL 7675]

If only Trump could get that boost from Facebook and Twitter like the good old days, when those companies turned a blind eye to Russian interference and let bots and troll farms run wild. 

SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING! 

[FondrenRoad 4378]

1 hour ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

Are we pretending these tech companies can’t buy off the Trump administration? 

There is this. And it would cost less than Amazon makes in a single day. 

[FondrenRoad 4378]

1 hour ago, WhatTheBuck said:

Which should happen, just probably under more capable hands. 

I agree. But I'm also not sure they can be broken up if they don't want to be. There is nothing that says Amazon needs to be a US HQ'd company. 

You think a sector based US breakup would really hurt them?  They could instantly reconsolidate in another country and sell us back AWS and Prime Video while keeping the new "separate" but fully owned US based retail business.  

These companies aren't Standard Oil and Ma Bell. They don't pull location based fossil fuels out of the ground and they don't run a location based physical network.  The only way you can really stop Google or Amazon is to cut off the internet. China did it to Google, but that isn't our style.  

Edited July 24, 2019 by FondrenRoad

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13546]

The GOP, again, demonstrating they have no problem with government involvement in the free market when it suits them.