According to insiders, the US government is fronting the four technology giants, Facebook, Apple, Google and Amazon. Competition authorities will take a closer look at the market power and practices of the four companies that reach billions of people each day around the world with their offerings, as people familiar with the matter told media yesterday.
Amazon and Facebook are being investigated by the US industry regulator FTC, Google’s mother Alphabet and Apple by the Department of Justice. The corporations and the authorities did not want to comment on this. Investors did not like the prospect of investigations by the antitrust authorities: The Facebook and Alphabet shares each lost around seven percent, while Amazon lost 5.2 percent and Apple just under two percent.
Favoring own business examined
According to the insiders, the US Department of Justice is now investigating whether Google prefers its own businesses to the results of its search engine. In 2013, the US antitrust agency FTC had completed a long investigation of the group, Google had to turn off certain practices at that time.
As the Wall Street Journal reported, the FTC created on Facebook the conditions to investigate the behavior of the world’s largest social network in competition. It was initially unclear what exactly should be tested at Apple and Amazon.
Cofounder of Facebook calls for „smashing“
For many politicians and consumer advocates, the dominant position of Internet companies and their practices has long been a thorn in the side. Competitors in Europe and the United States have repeatedly against the corporations in recent years.
With regards to Facebook, co-founder Chris Hughes, among others, had spoken out in favor of a break-up. In his opinion, the technology giant, led by his former roommate Mark Zuckerberg, had become too powerful. Facebook is used by more than two billion people, several times there were data breaches in Europe and the US.
