DOJ Moving Forward On ‘Major Priority’ Big Tech Antitrust Probe

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is moving forward with its investigation into Big Tech firms based on antitrust complaints, according to Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen, as reported by Reuters.

“We are going full-tilt,” Rosen said, according to Reuters. “It’s a major priority. We have a great team working really hard to get on top of the documents, hearing from people in the industry and the like.”

He didn’t comment on when the investigation would be complete, but he said it was not politically driven, Reuters reported.

The DOJ has had an interest in Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google since the summer of 2019, starting a broad investigation into whether the firms have been engaging in anti-competitive practices.

The CEOs of all four of those companies appeared together for the first time in July, and the outcome was not particularly friendly toward the companies. PYMNTS reported that Rhode Island Congressman David Cicilline ended the hearing by saying they all “have monopoly power.” All four tech giants defended their massive sizes and various purchases as competitive and not indicative of a squaring-off of parts of the market.

Meanwhile, PYMNTS has contended that the companies are not, in fact, monopolies because much of their time is spent competing for the same venues of the economy, including grocery shopping and social media.

Additionally, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee has probes into the four firms. And state attorneys general have separate probes of Google. Many states are likely to join a federal antitrust lawsuit against Google, according to Reuters.

Google has said it is continuing to engage in the various investigations.

“[W]hile we continue to engage with ongoing investigations, our focus is firmly on providing free services that help people every day, lower costs for small businesses, and enable increased choice and competition,” said spokeswoman Julie Tarallo McAlister, Reuters reported.