Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Alphabet to be investigated by the FTC and DoJ

It is well known that large technology corporations have been amassing enormous amounts of power and clout over various pertinent political and economic issues. With more and more people using the internet and relevant services, the influence of some of the largest tech behemoths would only increase with time. Whether it is self-driven cars, media & entertainment, search engines, gadgets or online news, some of the most ubiquitous companies in Silicon Valley are now interwoven in most aspects of people’s lives. So, it should come as no surprise that the United States government would try to regulate some of these technology giants.

The United States Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have now decided to carry out investigations of Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Alphabet for anti-trust violations. Both government agencies have chosen their prey; the FTC would conduct investigations of Amazon and Facebook, whereas the DoJ would be going after Alphabet and Apple. As news of these impending investigations broke out, all four of the corporations saw their share prices drop. This is not the first time that the government has tried to regulate tech companies. Microsoft faced an anti-trust lawsuit in the late nineties regarding its monopolistic practices.

Most people have woken up to the dangers of unregulated powers of a technology corporation following the Cambridge Analytica scandal that influenced the 2016 U.S. presidential elections. It remains to be seen as to where these investigations lead.