Major technology companies such as Facebook and Google have been hit by several federal antitrust laws that accuse them of monopolizing and abusing their power.
Here are the latest updates on the lawsuits:
Facebook gets the early edge:
In a surprise defeat, Judge James Boasberg said that the Federal Trade Commission – which sued Facebook in December, demanding that Facebook be forced to sell WhatsApp and Instagram – had not shown that Facebook had a monopoly position in the social networking market, and ordered the FTC to file a new complaint by July 29.
Four lawsuits against Google:
The U.S. Justice Department sued Google in October, accusing the tech giant of illegally using its market share to drown out rivals, with a trial date set for September 12, 2023.
A lawsuit filed by 38 U.S. states and territories accuses Google of abusing its market power to try to dominate its search engine in cars, televisions and speakers such as phones.
Texas, along with other states, filed a separate lawsuit against Google, accusing it of violating antitrust law in running its online advertising business.
A significant number of state attorneys general also sued Google on July 7, alleging that it had bought up competitors and used anti-competitive contracts to unlawfully maintain a monopoly on its App Store on Android phones.
Justice Department investigates Apple:
A number of app developers have accused Apple of introducing new products that are very similar to existing apps created by other developers and sold in the Apple Store, and then trying to remove the older apps from the store because they compete with Apple’s new product. Apple argued that it only strives to have the highest quality apps in the App Store.
Justice Department investigating Facebook and Amazon:
In July 2019, the Justice Department announced it was expanding its big-tech investigation to include “search, social media, and some retail services online” – an apparent reference to Facebook and Amazon.com.
Federal Trade Commission on Amazon:
In its investigation of the retail giant, the FTC is investigating the conflict of interest between Amazon and small sellers on its marketplace platform, including allegations that it used information from sellers on its platform to decide which products it would sell.
For more information, read the original story in Reuters.
