The US government tries to investigate whether Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google are abusing their enormous market power, sources told Reuters on Monday.
According to Reuters, an unprecedented and extensive research will be carried out on some of the largest companies in the world.
The Federal Trade Commission and the Ministry of Justice, two principles that enforce anti-monopoly laws in the United States, have split the supervision of the four companies, sources say. Amazon and Facebook will be under the auspices of the FTC, while Apple and Google will take over the Ministry of Justice.
Once the jurisdiction has been established, the next step will be formal investigations. The results will probably not be seen so quickly. A previous FTC survey for Google took more than two years.
Tech companies are constantly facing backlash not just from the United States but around the world, fueled by concerns among competitors, lawmakers and various consumer groups. All the businesses we mentioned above have too much power and harm except them users, and their competitors.
Immediately after publication of Reuters, Facebook shares declined by 7,5% and Alphabet by 6%. Amazon.com shares fell by 4,6% and Apple by 1%.
The US president, Donald Trump, called for closer scrutiny of social networks and Google for suppressing conservative voices online, but offered no evidence.
The US president has repeatedly criticized Amazon for abusing the US Postal Service, but without presenting any evidence. Trump often takes aim at Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos, its owner Washington Post, a newspaper that is often critical of Trump.
Senate Senate Senate President Lindsey Graham, Reuters, told Reuters that the business model of companies like Google and Facebook should be scrutinized.
"They have so much power, and so much anarchy," said Lindsey Graham.
"Their predatory power requires rigorous investigation and antitrust action," the Connecticut senator wrote on Twitter.
Anyway, legal experts have said that US regulators are unlikely to try to break up companies. However, it would not be ugly to implement certain measures to safeguard the public.
What seems a little strange is that Microsoft is missing from the list.
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