The US government tries to investigate whether the 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 Justice Department, two authorities that enforce antitrust laws in the United States, have split oversight of the four companies, the sources said. Amazon and Facebook will be under the supervision of the FTC, while Apple and Google will be taken over by the Department 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.
Technology companies are constantly facing reactions not only from the United States but around the world, fueled by concerns between competitors, legislators and various consumer groups. All of the companies mentioned above have excessive power and harm other 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 president of USA, Donald Trump, has called for closer scrutiny of social networks and Google for suppressing conservative voices in the Internet, but without presenting evidence.
The president of the United States has repeatedly criticized Amazon for abuse of the US postal service, but without providing evidence. Trump often targets Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos, owner of the Washington Post, a newspaper that often criticizes the 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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