Recently, countless big tech companies have faced major defeats in courts around the globe, potentially showing a new era of interaction between Big Tech and government. Some of these companies, such as Google, Apple, Meta, and many more have been taken to court by countries and other organizations seeking to remove what they claim are monopolies or predatory behavior. As such, some have posed the question of whether or not these huge companies will continue to grow.
Google has dealt with not one, but two antitrust lawsuits in the US related to its products. With one case relating to the workings of its hallmark search engine having been determined a monopoly and the second case regarding its advertising business yet to be decided, some within the prosecuting US Department of Justice (DOJ) have called for Google to be broken up. Google’s illegal monopoly on the search engine market has been achieved through agreements with other tech firms such as Apple and Samsung, which allowed Google to push out competitors and remain the world’s foremost search engine. Despite Google’s desire to remain the dominating force within the market, the DOJ, joined by 38 state attorneys general, aims to force Google to allow more competition within this market. The second suit focuses on Google’s behavior within the market of ad providers, claiming that its acquisition of competitors and other moves represent a monopoly.
However, Google is not only facing legal issues in the US. In Europe, the company has been embroiled in a series of multi-year-long lawsuits and other court battles against the EU. After having been fined billions of dollars for a myriad of illegal actions, Google appealed these fines and recently lost its appeal on one fine of €2.4 billion, which it must now pay for illegally giving preferential treatment to its own products in its search results. Moreover, as in the US, EU regulators want Google to break up its ad business and have called it a monopoly. However, Google has also achieved some success within the legal system, successfully appealing a nearly €1.5 billion fine regarding its ad business.
Like Google, Apple is also facing regulatory difficulties in the EU. The Court of Justice of the EU determined that Apple has to pay the Irish government €13 billion in back taxes that it had illegally avoided through deals with the Irish government. Despite the Irish government actually arguing in favor of Apple, the court nonetheless determined Apple’s behavior as illegal and ordered this fine to be paid. Outside of the EU, Apple was also recently in legal hot water in the US regarding its Apple Card, charging it and Goldman Sachs, the card’s issuer, as having misled customers and broken a range of consumer protection laws, forcing them to pay $90 million.
The headquarters of the Court of Justice of the EU in Luxembourg (2023), courtesy of the European Judicial Training Work (EJTN).
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and multiple other popular apps, has also been accused of holding an illegal monopoly. In what is considered one of the more complicated suits against a big tech company, the DOJ, along with over 40 states, claim that Meta’s acquisition of both Facebook and Instagram represents a monopoly in the social media market. Despite the original suit being thrown out of court, the DOJ refiled and expects a judgment to come later this year or early next year.
In somewhat of a different case, Amazon is also being pursued in American courts. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), claims that Amazon abuses its market position to the detriment of both sellers and buyers, illegally increases prices, and prevents competition. While Amazon did succeed at getting some claims tossed out of court, the main body of the lawsuit remains. The lawsuit aims to quash Amazon’s alleged monopoly, improve transparency, and protect consumers.
The Chair of the FTC, Lina Khan, has taken a tough approach towards Big Tech (Tom Brenner, 2023)
Yet, it is important to note that all of these suits have been carried out by Biden’s DOJ, which took a hardline approach to monopolies and large corporations. However, with the recent victory of former President Trump, the DOJ, after he takes office this January, may look entirely different; he has often taken an anti-regulation and anti-government interference in business approach, leading some to question if he will continue these lawsuits. Furthermore, Trump has been courted by some big tech CEOs who hope that under his next term, their companies will be given more free reign. However, whether or not that will be the case remains to be seen, as Trump continues laying out his policies for the next four years. Despite this uncertainty in the US, it is clear that the era of government friendliness towards Big Tech is over, and it is probable that in the future more and more lawsuits will be filed as governments seek to limit the power, size, and influence of Big Tech.
Featured image: The “Big Five” Tech Companies; Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft (Medium, 2019)
