View: Don’t let Big Tech take it away

On October 20, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) filed an anti-trust case against Google, accusing it of ‘unlawfully maintaining monopolies in the markets for general search services, search advertising, and general search text advertising in the United States through anticompetitive and exclusionary practices’. DoJ referred to Microsoft’s 1990s case that effective monopolisation of distribution channels is anti-competitive under US law.

This has led to reports on Japan’s Fair Trade Commission regulating big tech players to promote competition, adding to regulatory scrutiny in the EU and Australia on Google, Amazon, Apple, Twitter and Facebook. A US Congress panel recently held that Amazon and other big players have unfair market dominance, stifling competition. It recommended prohibiting further mergers and acquisitions and price regulation. Big Tech CEOs are now regular visitors to Capitol Hill.