Here's "Justice" (Dept of) for ya:
"William Barr’s donations to Senate Republicans spiked just before they confirmed him as attorney general" https://qz.com/1667918/barrs-donations-to-senate-republicans-spiked-before-confirmation/
AG Barr is utterly corrupt and Republicans in office have lost all standards of integrity or honesty in their eager partisanship for their masters who fund their campaigns and ensure tax cuts for the rich, support for big fossil, deregulation of protections for workers and our very earth itself. They're happy to "win" with the help of foreign interference and a wide range of vote cheating and intimidation. They're eager to protect fetuses but not living children or families. Jesus would not recognize them (try the Gospels).
So what hope is there than big social media can be stopped from enabling the purchase of information and bias towards lies and exaggeration?
2
One would have thought, after facebook's involvement in the debacle of the American presidential election,the bust up of the Internet trusts would be well along by now, fuelled by voter indignation.The next elections are close,your security services to a man warns the political apparatus is wide open to manipulation again. And so far we have just this tepid questioning . Oh well as the French say "A la prochaine fois"
1
About time!
2
I was wondering when the politically connected oligarchs would start to attack the monopolies they don’t already control. This is how democracy and free market capitalism dies, in a giant legal battle decided by politically connected conservative judges.
The biggest US tech corporations don't act a US companies , they exist only fiscally as hiding under multiple fake fiduciaries entities in a foreign country, in the Republic of Ireland, mostly, that is inside the EU.
And that is in order to be able to cheat, under multiple tricks like the " Double Irish " and " Dutch sandwich " and falsely used European tax loop holes .
The cash benefit is repatriated without paying any taxes to the EU via London exchange and its secret ties to the US offshore banks in the Caribbean .
That is Apple, Amazon, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, Starbucks, Netflix, and many others .
The US fiscal fraud into the EU budget causes a deficit of 20 % globally each year that has to be paid for by European workers and tax payers because the EU, on which these companies make a profit without participating in their infra structure , are established on a principle of social participation for free education up to university for all and free global health insurance for all.
2
If this administration is really serious about looking into the harm caused to individuals by monopolies, they should first look at how AbbieVie has - with its phalanx of lawyers - prevented generic versions of Humira from going to market long after it has supposedly gone off patent.
1
American tech companies operate all over the world and many of our trading partners have similar concerns. Nor are tech companies the only business entities in the same situation. Differences in anti-trust, tax, and other commercial law between ourselves and the EU unnecessarily complicate this for both the companies and governments. We should work with the EU to harmonize our approaches so as to regularize commerce between us, simplify reporting and legal compliance for the companies, and to prevent tax shopping between jurisdictions.
1
The glass half full side of me says it is about time we resume enforcing anti trust laws. What about big pharmaceuticals?
The glass half empty side says these companies are not Trump supporters and is The Justice department moving forward to silence Trump’s powerful critics?
After further thought, consider the glass 3/4 empty.
2
Trump henchmen Barr is investigating these tech companies for the same reason the DOJ frivolously opposed the AT&T and Time Warner merger: political harassment. With the AT&T merger, DOJ and Trump wanted to intimidate CNN, a Time Warner property. Here, Trump and his lapdog Barr want to force tech companies to become Trump regime propagandists.
We know there is no legitimate motive here.
3
So, our government wants to handcuff our greatest technology companies while China is actively working to shoot ahead in technology and AI
2
Where was the public call for DOJ investigations during the years leading up to the the 08 wall st crash?!
Hair raising Bill Moyer 25 min interview with William K Black - the regulator who stood up to resistance by the Reagan administration and sent over 1000 savings and loan executives to jail.
https://vimeo.com/33232754
5
What if, the problem is not really that of antitrust. Then, by finding none (or only small stuff), the investigation whitewashes all other, much more significant, sins.
So the attorney general’s motivation here is to get tech companies to drop advanced encryption to allow the government to spy on citizens unfettered.? Europe has major tech privacy laws while the US is weak on that front, and Barr wants to deprive the population of the little privacy we have. This tells me all I need to know about this new investigation.
4
I hope they investigate and ultimately break up some of these companies. I believe that much of their behaviour is anti competition. In Canada we had a great service where for a monthly fee you can access hundreds of magazines. Apple bought the service, inserted it into Apple News and limited access to Apple products. I can view magazines on my wife’s IPad but not on my Samsung tablet. How is this not anticompetitive behaviour?
6
@Trento Cloz You can’t watch Game of Thrones on Showtime.
Why isn't Justice also looking at the telephone industry? Why not look at cable TV? Talk about a pure political play because trump has felt slighted by Big Tech.
5
@Scott
For starters because having cable tv is not a service for many people since they've switched over to streaming services - services provided by these tech companies.
1
Wow - and not to hear Microsoft mentioned in the same grouping.
Mr. Gates and his company have nicely positioned themselves as a kind and gentle grand daddy to all these boisterous grand kids - Google, Amazon, Fakebook etc.
My fear is this inquiry will lead to nothing just as in the case of IBM and Microsoft of the past - and these companies will remain just as they are today.
And many governments appear to treat them as a cash ATM via fines etc which are contested in courts. And eventually, they amount to pennies on dollars.
I have my own travel app which is free.
To me, the simplest solution is to force many of these companies to separate app business from their primary business which appears to be selling ads.
By controlling "free" apps - like the loss leader concept in the grocery stores - these YUGE Companies make entrance to this "free" market cost prohibitive.
And that makes them even more dominant.
Microsoft issue was settled thru technology - that is Windows became not so "indispensable."
But Microsoft did not become a $1 trillion company thru selling ads like Google, Fakebook and even Apple.
So, to make them less omni present - it is important to reducetheir revenues and hence their profits - and resulting size.
4
This isn't your Teddy Roosevelt Anti Trust move. This is a GOP angry that the Internet allows critics of their party openly, as it should. They are attempting to shape the narrative and quash free speech.
8
And targeting the tech industry as it leans heavily educAted and democratic....a move that could compromise American dominance in the industry putting the nation in peril against the likes of Russia and China
1
The big joke "Justice Department said on Tuesday that it would start an antitrust review into how internet giants had accumulated market power and whether they had acted to reduce competition."
5
Why is Paul Manafort sitting behind those guys being sworn in?
2
Considering the ignorant and incompetent cronies filling seats at Trump's DOJ these days, those companies don't have anything to worry about. Just offer money and future jobs and they'll jump ship, just as the rest of the Trump gang has done, repeatedly.
4
I do wish for those who complain about “big tech” to be granted the opportunity to pay for their use Google search, Bing, Facebook and Instagram. And Twitter. And Gmail. Pay for service would be appropriate.
It is baffling that so many think they are entitled to use these services from these companies as if they are some sort of gift.
The amount of crying that goes on over tech tracking is ironic being that when you sign up for an account or use a company’s service you agree to the terms and conditions. You get to use for free and they get to track.
What did you expect? You clicked that you agreed to the terms and dove in with all the carelessness of a greedy child.
How much of this is the Justice Department's (Bill Barr's)effort to make themselves look good after their abdication of responsibility for stopping the corruption in the Trump administration? Big Tech is an easy target. People who do not know any better will blame the technology companies for controlling their lives, risking their privacy and causing them to spend so much money on their tech toys.
1
I'm having a hard time understanding how tech companies who started from zero, built up steadily by innovating and implementing what customers wanted and still provide their services for free should now be taken apart by our government. There are other options available for search engines, online retailers, social media, etc; if they aren't doing as well, they need to up their game-isn't that what competition is all about?
Sure this is new territory--so set up some rules of the road to protect privacy, etc, but simply taking successful companies apart seems a sure way to put our country back a few steps while countries like China actually put government support behind technological innovation.
Implementing AI is going to be a real game changer and these companies are going to be leading the way, do we really want to make it harder for them to succeed when we all benefit from their innovations?
1
Amen. I don’t want to go back to the days of Excite or Alta Vista or Yahoo search. I don’t want to drive all over town looking for something I can’t find when the Amazon app is on my phone. Does Apple have bigger market share in phones than Nokia had in its day. There are more browsers now than ever. The government destroyed A&P and almost destroyed IBM and tried to kill Microsoft. Ford had an overwhelming auto dominance in 1920 but look how quickly they lost share by 1930.
We keep hearing how the government is looking into these agencies. Could it be that they work together providing the government our data?
4
All this "investigation" means is that google and facebook did not properly grease the right palms in government up to this point.
I am sure that will change in the background and this investigation will fade into the ether.
That, my friends, is American Capitalist Democracy.
Watch it happen.
4
4 observations to make -
1. DJT does like operating like a mob boss so a shakedown was inevitable.
2. If these companies were registered in any other country they would be used as shining examples of those countries economic and innovation might.
3. Seems curious that this inquiry is being launched when Facebook announced Libra. Seems like Wall St is worried.
4. Congress doesn’t even know how the internet works. How can they claim these companies are monopolizing it?
11
These companies should be broken up, as a start. Microsoft is left out? Why?
1
@Vinnie K
I don't know why they were left out, but,
these days most employment recruiters and company HR departments use Microsoft's LinkedIn to search through the resumes(i.e. the employment history and affiliations) of potential employees. Think about the potential of that database of resumes on people's privacy.
Google is a legitimate target for investigation as a functional monopoly regarding internet search. Facebook concerns me because of the way it tracks people who have not signed up for Facebook, but that is not an issue related to anti-trust. Apple is in no way a monopoly.
Of more concern in anti-trust is landline internet, where there is usually only one player, making a non-competitive market. The telecom/cable companies that function as ISPs have largely carved up the country into fiefdoms and rarely compete directly with each other. They also lobby together to prevent community broadband initiatives as they want no market force holding them to account for their ever-higher prices for connectivity.
Another concern is the high level of ownership concentration among media companies. AT&T should never have been allowed to swallow up DIRECTV or Time-Warner, Comcast should never have been allowed to buy up NBC and Universal, and Disney never should have been allowed to buy up the Fox studio. Massive chains of radio and TV stations by various operators has also not benefitted the communities or a competitive market.
11
The Scofflaw Administration is in desperate need of something to take voters' minds off its legislative obsession with depriving millions of citizens of health insurance and transferring wealth upward to the already rich, its signature accomplishments if one does not count the desultory attempts to provoke a war with Iran and its enthusiasm for crank trade policies.
3
I’d hate to be in the shoes of these tech companies today. The right thinks they’re liberal sympathizers who suppress their content and the left thinks they’re responsible for losing the last election. In all of this, the real debates around whether they are a monopoly will be lost. FWIW I do believe this needs to be explored in depth but I lack any confidence that this government is capable of doing the right thing, whatever that might be.
2
The tech companies provide many services and charge nothing for it. How would you like to pay a nickel for each google search, a dollar for each youtube video you watch (or upload)? How about 10 cents per facebook post? 5 cents per tweet? Not to mention all the free Google Docs apps and storage.
Maybe people liked the AOL model or cable TV model of paying $$ per month for some basket of services, most of which you don't want.
Amazon provides incredible services to people. Why drive all over the town looking for something when I can find it on Amazon in 5 minutes? Do you like spending a day visiting 10 local stores trying to find something? It is so much fun to sit in traffic all day.
How about paying for each email? Maybe we could have digital stamps that you need to post on each email. I prefer to use free gmail or hotmail.
If you want great services you someone has to pay for it. We have been watching commercials on TV since the beginning of TV. How else do you think they pay for the shows?? Who cares if you get annoying ads based on your search history? Do you prefer getting ads for things you care nothing about??
I am so tired of people whining about tech companies. I love all the free services and online deals I get from them. Who cares if they send me annoying ads.
I am far more worried about some government agency going after tech companies because they are too liberal or too tied to facts. Do we really want Pence approving facebook posts?
14
How did Google and Facebook get so powerful? Like Ford, Coca-Cola, Exxon and Cheetos, the American public flocks to products they love or must have. Google and Facebook may seem very different, but each rests on the fat part of the bell curve we call capitalism.
3
So no inquiry on big oil, big insurance, big pharma, big telecom?
18
Don’t forget big college.
2
Ya! Republicans are afraid of tech because the billionaires that run most of those companies support Democrats. Always investigate your rich political enemies. Like they do in Russia.
12
Here's what I bet will happen:
The GOP is only agitating against big tech because conservative bomb throwers are being banished from social media for rampant misinformation, brazen bigotry, and in some cases incitement to violence. Although it's loathe to admit it America's right wing informally relies on these troll armies to mobilize and spread its message online.
Now, in my view, big tech should be under the radar. Amazon should probably be broken up, and Facebook and Google's power, which stifles competition and makes a mockery out of the public's privacy, ought to be severely curbed. But come on, when is the last time anyone remembers Republicans being up in arms over American corporations getting too big, powerful and unaccountable? How about never?
The GOP is trying to do to social media what it did to the news media. They're whining incessantly about liberal bias. Conservatives have had plenty of success taking this approach toward the news media: they're so terrified of being seen as 'liberal' that they basically frame every issue they cover through a conservative POV. The tech companies haven't given in to such working of the refs - so the Republicans will try to strong-arm them next.
7
I guess the tech industry didn’t get those checks into the right hands in time. I don’t believe this has anything to do with anti trust or anything else that comes close to enforcing the law. This is Trump’s DOJ.
6
The government should focus on strengthening laws governing privacy. Consider this: 1GB is a billion bytes of data. In a day, there are 86,400 seconds. That works out to 11,574 bytes per second. So, there is more than enough storage in 1GB to record everything you’ve done in a day, down to every last blink, breath, and heartbeat. Now, consider that there are 36,524 days in 100 years. So, if I had 1 GB of flash memory for every day in a century, I would need 36,524 GB of storage, or about 37 terabytes. At today’s retail prices, 1 TB of flash memory can be purchased for about $160. So, to buy 37 Terabytes of storage at today’s retail prices would cost around $6,000. So, for $6,000, we could save every single split second of a human being’s life. Now, who might want to record and save everything you have ever done in your entire life? I have some ideas.
2
@Mark
I do not care in the slightest if someone records everything I've done in a day, down to every last blink, breath, and heartbeat. They have my leave to put it up on billboards to enrich the lives of people in those less populous states the Founders were at such pains to protect when they dreamed up the Electoral College.
3
Do I smell a shakedown? Nice company you have there. Wouldn’t want anything to happen to it.
17
This is a vendetta orchestrated by POTUS and carried out by William Barr. You can't trust anything from this Administration and/or the DOJ Attorney General.
14
Honestly, let’s not waste the next ten years on inquiries, investigations, fines & appeals. I think the entire country would be better served if Congress focused on changing the corporate tax structure so these four companies-and several hundred more- paid their fair share. What we have at the moment is the burden of the country’s multi-trillion dollar deficit placed on the shoulders of Citizen Joe while the company owned by the richest man in the world pays $0 a year in taxes. Although what Amazon, Facebook, Google & Apple are doing is legal, it’s just wrong. The tax laws are outdated. At least the ones that allow those companies to file corporate headquarter locations in small towns overseas & shuffle their profits around the world to avoid paying any taxes. Meanwhile all their employees pay income tax. How does that not make everyone’s blood boil?!?! Enough already!
6
It's all about the money the United States Government has allowed companies to do what they like as long as the kick back money gets paid you look at the Big Technology Companies using individuals cellular phone to ease drop on personal private conversation , and messages whether on the phone or off its systematic. You would have to be ignorant, or very naive to think that Countries like China, North Korea, Iran , are not riding the Google, Facebook software and hardware putting their own firmware through American traders allowing access to a great many people.
2
@George
It's eaves drop as in listening at the window surreptitiously. A small point I know.
Does anyone think that this Justice Dept has any legitimacy?
This is another attempt by a vindictive administration to punish opponents and stifle disssent.
6
Sorry Tim Cook,
65%+ of all app sales occur on Apple IOS.
Apple may not have all the phones but it surely has all the app sales.
= Monopoly on app sales
2
Turning point? Nope. Americans are under stress. Sometimes stress they can’t identify but stress nonetheless. Societies under stress become notoriously callous to those they feel are the other. It’s circle the wagons time in America. The better angels of our mercy are eclipsed by the louder demons of our fears.
4
What is needed, more than this, is that users, whose detailed data is accumulated by these behemoths, be compensated for their data's use. No, not just by their getting free searches through Google, but directly.
Require that any company selling info from its user database compensate each user, each time. Sure, pennies or fractions of a penny on each instance -- but summed over all the instances where the user data was sold to others, it would add up.
Almost every instance of multiple searches for a type of product has resulted in my receiving unsolicited ads for that product -- even though I never clicked on even one of Google's findings. Anybody else interested in a replacement A/C compressor for a 1994 Miata?
4
@Austen Liberal, have you tried incognito search?
Definitely overdue; but do any of the elderly folks in these government agencies understand these companies and their business models well enough to enact beneficial change for the American public?
7
Just where is Apple a monopoly?
Personal computing? Not even close (Dell, Lenovo, HP, Acer, etc)
Streaming services? Not even close. (Netfix, Amazon, HBO, Disney, etc)
Smart phones? (Nope. Samsung #1, Huawei, etc.)
Tablets. (Nope. Microsoft, Google, Lenovo, etc)
Not a monopoly. Just a great American company.
11
@KJ yes apple has a monopoly. in america they have nearly a 50% share of all smartphones. its 20% internationally but this is america and we apply our laws to america.
apple abuses its monopoly. it charges 30% on the appstore and gets away with it because developers and consumers have no other choice.
there is a strong antitrust lawsuit that just passed the supreme court.
apple will be found guilty of having and abusing their monopoly and things will change.
4
@Paul Schejtman
Respectfully disagree. US Apple smartphones were 45.5% as of March. Android 53%.
Per the Federal Trade Commission: “Courts look at the firm's market share, but typically do not find monopoly power if the firm... has less than 50 percent of the sales of a particular product or service within a certain geographic area. Some courts have required much higher percentages. In addition, that leading position must be sustainable over time: if competitive forces or the entry of new firms could discipline the conduct of the leading firm, courts are unlikely to find that the firm has lasting market power.”
Legal definition.
“The two elements of monopolization are (1) the power to fix prices and exclude competitors within the relevant market. (2) the willful acquisition or maintenance of that power as distinguished from growth or development as a consequence of a superior product, business acumen or historical accident.”
Dont see where Apple is (yet) a monopoly in smartphones. And given the competitive nature of the market, might not ever be. But yes, the App Store could be a problem for them.
1
@KJ. You are funny -
Why does Apple slow down performance of apps on older IPhones, or make devs make their apps obsolete on older iPhones?
3
I hope they look into the use of H1Bs to replace qualified Americans. Supposedly, these H1Bs have some special skills unavailable here, but, the American employees end up training them and then lose their jobs.
13
While you are at it, Justice Department, why not also look at why industry lobbying groups like the NRA control all gun legislation? And how Purdue Pharma got away with the for-profit killing of several hundred thousand Americans with their purportedly "safe" Oxycontin?
Corporate power has become more powerful than government. Our Republic is in grave danger.
8
I’m sure that this has nothing to do with the following:
Trump hates Bezos.
Bezos is the founder and CEO of Amazon.
Barr is Trump’s lapdog.
Having said this, it is true that big tech has abused its power when it comes to privacy and data collection. The biggest criminal here is Facebook which has firmly established itself as the most egregious offender. Cambridge Analytica was just the tip of the iceberg. Alphabet, as well as Facebook, culls and sells users’ data to the highest bidder. Their ad business, which constitutes the lion’s share of their revenue and profits depends on access to users’ data, whether the users consent or not.
Unfortunately, DOJ has been completely compromised since Barr has taken over. They are a political entity devoted to the Trump/Republican agenda. They should be investigated as well. But, unfortunately, that’s not an option.
11
@Avatar
Barr and Trump are pushing an agenda (break up Amazon) that Liz Warren supports. So who's corrupt?
@GMooG Trump and Barr are corrupt. Their actions have everything to do with Bezos’s ownership of the Washington Post and with their belief that big tech has a liberal bias. Personally, I’m not a fan of Amazon and I do feel that it has become too big-brother, but I question the DOJ’s motives. They’re not going after industries that Trump likes such as health insurers. Why not?
Why is this happening at the same time as the Mueller hearing?
6
Bill Gates and Steve Jobs started their companies in their garage.
They didn't have to pay thousands of dollars a month to SEO optimization experts to get their web/internet identities at the top of search engines.
Time to break these guys up!!
8
@wfkinnc
I did not know this was occuring as I don't operate a small business. However, interesting point and a good reason to look into Google's practices.
I also think it's ridiculous that Amazon pays 0 tax while other companies pay far higher. Again worth a look.
Most people want their accounts encrypted to protect their privacy against all governments, rouge hackers, identity theives, etc. Mr Barr is quite wrong to compare digital privacy to houses and cars, claiming the 14th amendment already protects us against unlawful searches and seizures (see link in article). Does Russia, China, etc. abide by the 14th amendment? This D.O.J. investigation is a ruse. This is not for the sake of consumers, nor for non-competition. If that were the case Big Pharma should be first in line, and there was no Justice Department then leaping to the rescue. Barr works for his Number One client, a man who has made his dislike of Jeff Bezo quite plain. This insertion of government into businesses is another Fascist attempt to derail and dictate to companies neither Barr nor Trump understand, but are successful nonetheless. Maybe they can fix that. This is a freedom of speech issue. We know how Trump feels about THAT.
3
From the guys who thought poison in drinking water should not be regulated, they now want to regulate big tech.
8
Why should government fight against are strongest companies? Apple competes against fierce competitors - Samsung, Dell, Spotify, Amazon, Sony, and Google among others. It is not a monopoly.
4
@KJ so other americans have a chance to make more great companies.
the big tech companies are tying up the system illegally.
we have laws just like sports have rules.
we need refs to call the fouls
the big tech companies are fouling and cheating and lying a lot.
If course, if Google and Amazon open their checkbooks up to the GOP, this investigation will end in a heartbeat.
8
Personally, I'm much more concerned by the de-facto monopolies of cable companies - I can choose which search engine or social network I use, but I still only have one "choice" of ISP.
Well done FCC.
20
@PaulB
But cable companies give money to Republicans, so,they can’t be monopolies.
2
@PaulB
What are you talking about? Every big city has multiple ISP options, especially SFO
Not ISPs so much as cable TV lineups and how programmers force cable providers to "air" multiple channels to air one. So consumers have to pay for all the channels from one production company, like the parent of say HGTV, even if they only watch one channel. Same with all the ESPNs.
1
If we decide to examine monopolistic behavior in the online era, perhaps the best measure would be the time spent at each of these services per day. In this case Facebook would be the runaway winner. If we harken back to the the early Standard Oil days, evidence of a monopoly would decimating the competition with unfair market practices then buying up the remains. Again, Facebook. Or perhaps a measure should how many lives of its members are ruled by hate or members murdered, same result. In my opinion Facebook should not be broken up, but should be shut down permanently!
3
A technical knockout in boxing results in a knock-out decision by 'points' instead of physical brute force that renders a fighter unconscious and 'down for the count'.
A similar outcome is evident in the monopoly cases against Google and Facebook. Thee to enterprise operate a few businesses that are related information technology business. These two 'giants' dominate sectors of the ICT markets. Microsoft aloe owns Windows Laptops that are the leading business devices that are at the heart of "digital transformation" since 1984. Google owns the most popular search engine that include 'sliced and diced' profiles of most computing platforms accessible by Internet or (LAN) local area networks. Licensing of Google technologies close the circle of monopolistic concentration - technical knockout.
The most important business that evolved from technologies developed by Google and Facebook is lost in the fog of digital transformation that was conceived by a Troika of Microsoft, Google and Facebook. The markets shared by the 'Three Mass-market Technology Musketeers'
In my opinion the Internet in America and the big tech companies need to be regulated like they are vital public utilities. Why? Because they are and because we now have no choice but to use the Internet for many things.
6
And Lindbergh lands! So the Justice Department has finally realized that giants like Amazon, Facebook, Google, have vacuumed up the competition and squelched innovation. Banks, insurance companies, pharmaceuticals, phone companies — it’s not just the tech companies. Anti-trust has been asleep for years.
25
@Andy
Absolutely agree. And after 30 years in tech, all I can say is "it's about time"!
1
Hopefully these reviews will lead to actions improving competition in internet commerce in marketing, advertising and the like as well innovation in new technologies.
If I want to start up a company that builds a smart, voice-activated search device, how can I compete if Amazon is subsidizing their Alexa margins with their web store profits? I won't be able to develop my application if I can't hire the right people and that requires money. No one will fund my venture if Amazon is pouring money into their devices without any consideration of profits from it. Same goes with Facebook and their VR device. Add the cost of AI research sponsored by ads, phones and Prime Days into the mix and the word monopoly makes sense. This is why anti-trust is hovering over them and rightfully so. Something has got to be done.
6
@Ed I believe Amazon loses money on its web store operations, or doesn't make much. But it makes money on AWS.
1
@Ed
The purpose of anti-trust law is not to empower the least-able competitor
1
Okay, fine. This process is glacial. Recall both General Motors and IBM, as examples, were reviewed. And the entities now at risk have pockets for legal bills that are larger than the government's.
1
Free enterprise -- capitalism in full fruition -- vs creeping fascism. These are scary times.
5
What no investigation into the Murdoch media and FOX news? I wonder why.
58
Fox News is hardly a monopoly with several “news” channel competitors as well as 100’s of other channels. I believe Fox has something like 5 million daily viewers and we have north of 350 million. Don’t confuse not liking a shows content to being a monopoly.
DOJ... big tech can make your life (and everybody else's) a lot more miserable than you will EVER make their's. Don't ever forget that...
2
Sorry to rain on parades, but this all is mere window dressing and an illusory showing off government concern for corporate hegemony. Meanwhile the telecom behemoths price fix and scheme to quash fair competing in Internet service and broadband, and narry a finger is lifted under BOTH D and R regimes. But enjoy your spectacle of grilling Facebook, b/c you hate them for the '16 election. "Are you not entertained??!"
14
This is all about the "T-word" hating companies that have been WAY more successful than him in the business world with the brilliant minds that created them way ahead of him in the "World's Richest People" category. This is his only MO for going after them.
12
Everyone understands that what the "Justice" Department is actual going to be looking at is the claims that the social media giants are "silencing" far-right people, right?
13
@Randall Bingo and yes they should be silenced.
1
@DG. Free speech not one of your values, eh ?
1
About time.
These tech new gilded age robber baron malefactors of great wealth are determined to profit from unfair competition by any means necessary.
Historically antitrust law goes well beyond monopoly. Price fixing and conspiraces to limit competition by a variety of methods are meant to protect competitors. While the antitrust laws are intended to protect competition, consumers and innovation. Buying up your potential competitors is one path towards eliminating competition.
12
But wait, Trump campaigned on having the most open and unregulated country ever.
Oh, right, since he thinks the NYT and WP and Facebook and Twitter and ... don't follow his lead, he send the DoJ to punish them all.
31
It looks to me like the Democrats are being outsmarted, outmaneuvered at every turn on All sorts of issues ranging from immigration (supported border funding ) and now concerns about Big Tech by the Trump administration.
2
@Andrew Macdonald so you are in agreement that this is being done for political reasons. What trust can Americans have in this administration doing the right thing?
5
This is excruciating. At any other time I would applaud this move to have government step in when a monopoly becomes too big, too influential and too destructive but right now I don't trust the Barr Justice Dept. to set precedence in America's favor. He hasn't shown that he has our best interests at heart, so far.
65
@Rick Gage It is true that the left does not like Barr, but the vilification of the man by some is undeserved. The man was previously the AG of the US and now is again. Simply, because he is part of Trump's administration and has taken positions the left does not like, does not mean DOJ will not do its job when it comes to looking at Google et al. Further, social media ( read Facebook and Google) are blamed for Trump's win but are also further trashing Trump: so to believe DOJ under Barr won't do its job, just what side do you think Barr will come down on? This is no defense of Barr and certainly not of Trump, but the fact is Barr just might be correct in all regards and Facebook and others have had such control over social media, bad things did take place ( thinking of Cambridge Analytica).
3
@Bian
Nonsense. Barr acts more like Trump's lawyer and henchman than the attorney general of the United States, supposedly a post that demands impartiality.
20
It’s a gop shakedown of big tech.
7
A bunch of American companies that they want to shut down or hamper, these companies employ hundreds of thousands of Americans... who does this benefit?
6
as long as it'll take to investigate and recommend, it'll probably take ten times that to resolve after appeals in the court process.
2
There are several things I see in the rush to break up big tech companies. The first is that some progressive politicians like Senator Elizabeth Warren are very good at coming up with ideas to tear things down but they're often not very good at building anything but resentment. The other thing is that many also need a straw man to blame in order to try to appear to be a savior. Nobody is saying that big tech companies don't need to make some changes but breaking up the companies before the investigation has even begun tips their hands.
8
Wherever this leads it is far better than the punitive actions championed by politicians from Donald Trump to Elizabeth Warren. Let’s let the law and regulations deal with these companies. Far better than targeting specific companies while standing in front of the TV cameras as the pols like Trump and Warren have been doing.
4
What monopoly?
You can do searches on multiple other platforms other than Google.
Facebook hasn’t stopped other companies from forming social media platforms. In fact, Google recently quietly shut down their answer to Facebook.
“Consumers” use these products for free so the argument of price is null.
14
Why hasn't Trump's own lying, bile-spewing, hate mongering Twitter account been shut down? Oh, I forgot -- Barr works exclusively for him.
6
You mean the same Facebook and Google that promised to monitor more closely for fake Russian accounts influencing social media electoral politics? That sounds vindictive and probably answers Kamala Harris’ question when she grilled Barr about the White House requesting specific investigations on their behalf.
Trump sure has his Roy Cohn, alright.
31
Your Fascist Government at work. This is clearly a direct attack on these companies by Trump. The search devices are based on data algorithms not political principles. Just because conservatives don't like that their posts/beliefs frequently fall into the hate speech category, they think they are being discriminated against.
44
Just one word about accumulated market power: Amazon.
10
@dutchiris FOX news is more powerful, they got Trump elected.
2
@Joseph B
Actually, Hillary got Trump elected.
1
Bet Microsofties are enjoying this.
2
Antitrust review of telecom monopolies and media conglomerates (many of which are one and the same) coming in 3… 2… 1….
… I'm still waiting.
5
@Alfred, bingo, it's nauseating to read support her for "breaking up" tech companies whilst some of the most egregious offenders of market collusion and consumer manipulation (phone, cable/telecos, finance, news and programming networks) continue their wicked ways without so much as a peep from a single lawmaker or government official about those clear monopolies/cartels.
Well, this is very interesting, after complaining aboubt the EU giving fines to major tech compagnies, for not following the EU antitrust laws, now the USA wants to follow the same path?!?
After so many years, why is the change coming now?
5
Given Trump’s political attacks on these companies and Barr’s subservience to him, the DOJ has zero credibility on these issues.
67
The only thing this Justice Department cares about is whether ilk like Alex Jones are being “censored”. Big Tech needs more scrutiny but in this case I fear the cure is going to be worse than the disease.
10
If the past is any indication, Jeff Bezos and the Washington Post won't be intimidated.
3
Let's see -- this 'review' follows Trump's recent meeting with certain 'social media' companies, and his complaints about being treated unfairly by Facebook and Twitter. No matter the merits of the inquiry, it's hard to give much credence to the Barr DOJ.
60
@NB Interesting. Conspiracy theorists are now content creators?
Barr is like a broken clock that is right twice a day. For once this makes sense. Investigating tech for anti-trust makes all the sense in the world. The industry is at a point where it has commoditized to a high degree creating monopolies and oligopolies and the next step will be regulating them into quasi-utilities.
8
The tech companies are all powerful, but I don't trust this administration and attorney general when it comes to an antitrust inquiry.
I fear that next they'll be investigating journalists.
90
@L
Like what the Obama admin did, didn’t they put a reporter in jail for not revealing a source??
This president has been vocal but all bark, the previous was devious and sneaky, ask Sharyl Attkisson
2
G.Talbot,
Obama never called the press "the enemy of the people" or ranted that all the negative news about him was "fake" on a daily basis.
And please stop with the whataboutism.
It's really getting tired.
8
@L
Clearly you care more about words than deeds.
How many reporters has Trump thrown in jail?
Very torn on this one. On the one hand, I think these companies pretty clearly are monopolies that should see their power and influence reduced. On the other hand, I simply don't trust the current Justice Department's methods or motives.
81
I agree. My Facebook bill would be a lot lower every month if only there was more competition. It’s outrageous what I pay.
13
@Covfefe You actually pay for facebook, google and all of it!
Not in dollars obviously, but you pay with your time (and data, [...]).
I don't know about you, and perhaps I am speaking from a privileged position, but I value my time way more than anyone's dollars.
So the bill is outrageous, indeed.
For a Justice Department that has never seen anything that is too big to start this now leads me to believe this is political payback. This administration will do everything they can to harm anyone who disagrees with them. And if they get favorable publicity within their base and Fox News, so much the better
70
I hope that the feet of all of these companies will be held to the fire about the vast sums of money they have gotten away with not paying into the tax system and all the money they have removed from the US economy and are storing in offshore tax havens.
11
Legally. Storing in off-shore accounts legally.
3
They pay all of the taxes they are legally required to pay. I believe that the subsidizing of home loan interest is evasion because why should the government subsidize someone else’s loan.
Why is it I trust today’s Justice Department even less than I trust Google and Facebook? We are truly living in interesting times.
150
Exactly.
5
@Jon Bingo. Do I think big tech needs to be reigned in? Sure. Is this the DOJ and Administration to do it? Not a chance.
They're doing what needs to be done for all of the wrong reasons and it won't help anyone but the affluent and politically connected.
28
@Jon Wonder why they aren't also investigating FOX news for promoting biased propaganda.
7