US government begins investigation into monopoly position of large tech companies

The US government begins an investigation into the possible monopoly position of large tech companies. The competition commission’s investigation will look at whether the large companies are abusing their dominant position and whether new laws can be introduced to counter this.

“Power in the digital market brings with it a whole host of problems of its own,” writes committee chair David Cicilline. “After four decades of weak enforcement and legal action against competition enforcement, it is important for governments to speak out on whether existing laws are enough to address platform misconduct.”

The committee mainly wants to hold hearings on the subject. They should look at whether large tech companies have a monopoly on the market, and whether they exhibit behavior that opposes competition. The committee also wants to see whether existing regulations are sufficient to deal with this.

At the same time, the US Department of Justice has been given the opportunity to launch similar investigations against Google and Apple. Reuters reports that the Federal Trade Commission and the Antitrust Department of Justice have authorized the Department to initiate such an investigation. That does not immediately mean that this will happen immediately, but it has been discussed in the country for some time.