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Should Tech Companies Be Worried About DOJ’s Antitrust Review?
Action may finally be taken over claims Facebook, Google Apple and Amazon have monopolised chosen fields
By Alex Hern
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has announced a wide-ranging antitrust review of “market-leading online platforms”, suggesting that long-awaited action may finally be taken against some of the world’s largest companies.
But the confirmation of the investigation is sparse on detail, revealing only that the review “will consider the widespread concerns that consumers, businesses and entrepreneurs have expressed about search, social media, and some retail services online”.
Who could they be talking about? What concerns could people be expressing? It isn’t hard to read between the lines: here’s who should be looking over their shoulder in the coming months.
Alphabet
Google’s parent company dominates multiple sectors: online advertising, where it and Facebook are known as the “duopoly”, online search and YouTube. It also has a significant amount of market power in mapping (Google Maps), webmail services (Gmail) and mobile phone operating systems (Android).
