Source: AFP
After more than a decade after leaving Big Tech largely to its own devices, US antitrust authorities have turned up the heat, with several high-profile cases underway that could fundamentally change the way the industry’s giants do business .
Five major cases by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) launched under the Trump and Biden administrations are moving forward against major US technology companies — including two against Google that could lead to a breakup of the company.
The most recent came in March against Apple by the FTC, which claims the iPhone maker is abusing its dominance in the premium smartphone segment.
Washington has been largely silent on Big Tech cases since its wars with Microsoft that began in the 1990s and ended in a settlement in the early 2000s after a bitter battle with the DOJ.
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Inspired by movements in Europe and elsewhere, the new generation of cases alleges that the practices of tech giants, including Amazon and Meta, stifle competition, harm consumers and warrant major changes in business operations.
The cases are on different timelines, before different federal judges, and based on a wide variety of allegations. With appeals, the lawsuits could last up to a decade.
The campaign’s first case, launched in 2020 against Google over its search engine, could have an initial decision as early as the end of this year.
Source: AFP
In Google’s second case, also brought by the Justice Department, the company is taking aim at its dominance of the digital advertising space. Meanwhile, Amazon and Meta are facing cases with the FTC.
The suits drew applause from lawmakers, with frustration over the power of big tech companies running high in the public.
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However, many in the business community and legal profession have been discouraged, viewing the lawsuits as legally flimsy or politically motivated.
The heads of the FTC and the Justice Department’s antitrust division staunchly support their cases, seeing their mission as a means to protect consumers.
“It’s always good to look at the facts instead of running away from nerves,” FTC Chairwoman Lina Kahn said at a conference in Washington organized by the American Bar Association, responding to her critics.
“We’re really addressing the pain points that affect people’s lives, including healthcare and digital (technology), but well beyond that,” he said.
Rather than get bogged down in legal theory, Khan said the FTC’s cases were “fit for purpose in the year 2024.”
“This means … not relying on outdated assumptions and theories that clearly contradict what we see with our own eyes,” he added.
Legally creative?
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Source: AFP
In an informal survey of 19 leading antitrust scholars by University of Michigan Law Professor Daniel Crane, a majority of respondents thought the cases would be difficult to prosecute.
“Taking the overall sentiment together, it’s fair to say that there is an expectation that more of the cases will lose than win,” Crane wrote, with the Google cases seen as the government’s strongest and Amazon’s the weakest.
Khan’s critics point to widespread views in the legal community that the Biden administration’s cases are treading on thin legal ground.
“I’m kind of outraged by these lawsuits, because they seem very motivated, rather than based on sober legal and economic analysis,” said Michael Santoro, a professor of management at Santa Clara University who was not involved in the research.
A senior executive at one of the tech giants, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they are “ultimately overturning antitrust.”
Speaking in Washington to her US counterparts, EU competition czar Margrethe Vestager said she wished she had been more aggressive in her previous antitrust rulings.
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“If I were to do it again, I would be bolder, because we don’t have a lot of time. Concentration is increasing in every jurisdiction,” she said.
Vestager, in office for nearly a decade, has pursued her own wave of cases against tech companies accused of being far-fetched or legally creative.
In its latest tech-related ruling, the EU last month hit Apple with a 1.8 billion euro ($1.9 billion) fine for preventing music streaming services from offering subscription options outside of its App Store.
Source: AFP