MarketWatch: Google is in the hottest antitrust seat, but Apple and the rest of Big Tech shouldn’t breathe easy

July 13, 2021 Media

Now facing its fifth government antitrust lawsuit, Google appears to be the biggest target in the wave of Big Tech investigations around the world.

But Alphabet Inc.’s GOOGL, +3.18% GOOG, -0.30% internet giant is far from alone. Antitrust experts warn that more inquiries into the biggest tech companies in the world are on the way after President Joe Biden’s non-binding executive order on Friday, which addressed competition in tech head-on.

“Google isn’t the only one in the crosshairs of policy makers,” antitrust attorney Ashley Keller told MarketWatch, echoing the opinions of legal experts.

Aggressive state legislation is already looking into the sway of Apple Inc.’s AAPL, -1.22% App Store while waiting for a decision in the Epic Games Inc. antitrust lawsuit, and some colorful language in a recent decision on a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit against Facebook Inc. FB, +1.49% suggests the social network isn’t in the clear. Adding to the climate, Lina Khan’s FTC has its eyes on Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, +0.11%, reportedly including its recently announced $8.5 billion.

“This is the first time I have seen movement coalesce. Federal, state, and local government agree: Big Tech is a big problem,” said Pat Garofalo, director of state and local policy at the American Economic Liberties Project, a nonprofit organization that researches monopolies and advocates for deconcentration of power in economic markets.

“What they [government legislators and agencies] are doing shows the weakness of current antitrust law, and how courts are wedded to a consumer-harm definition of antitrust law,” Garofalo told MarketWatch. “For the antitrust movement to achieve what it wants to achieve, laws have to change.”