What’s Next for the U.S. Antitrust cases against Amazon, Apple, Google, and Meta

The parade of major federal cases challenging the power of the tech giants is just getting started. The parade of major federal lawsuits challenging the power of tech giants has just begun. The government has sued all four companies, including Google twice, in an effort to curb their power and promote competition. The companies have denied the claims.

Here’s what’s next with the U.S. government v. Big Tech.

Amazon

In September, the F.T.C. Amazon

In September, the F.T.C. and 17 states filed a lawsuit against Amazon accusing it to protect a monopoly through squeezing out sellers on its vast marketplace while favoring its services. The F.T.C. argued that the practices were harmful to consumers as well. The lawsuit shows a “fundamental misunderstanding of retail,” the company has argued. The lawsuit shows a “fundamental misunderstanding of retail,” the company has argued.

The chair of the F.T.C., Lina Khan, who is famous in certain circles for a 2017 Yale Law Journal antitrust paper on how to rein in Amazon, has vowed to take on tech monopolies.

Amazon has described the lawsuit as “misguided” and warned that if the F.T.C. prevailed, it would “force Amazon to engage in practices that actually harm consumers and the many businesses that sell in our store.”

Apple

The Department of Justice sued Apple in March, accusing the company of using a monopoly in the smartphone market to block competition, inflate prices for consumers and stifle competition. The department joined 15 states and the District of Columbia in its lawsuit after a nearly two-year investigation.

In the suit, filed in U.S. District Court of New Jersey, the department said Apple blocked companies from offering applications that competed with Apple products like cloud-based streaming apps, messaging and the digital wallet.

Last week, Apple filed a motion to dismiss the case and said its business decisions didn’t violate antitrust laws. It has also argued that those decisions make the iPhone a better experience.

“This lawsuit threatens who we are and the principles that set Apple products apart in fiercely competitive markets,” Apple previously said in a statement. “We believe this lawsuit is wrong on the facts and the law, and we will vigorously defend against it.”

Google

In addition to the search lawsuit, the Justice Department filed a separate suit against Google in January 2023 over online advertising. That case is scheduled to go to trial in September.

The department and eight states sued in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, saying Google acquired rivals through anticompetitive mergers and bullied publishers and advertisers into using the company’s ad technology.

In the search case that the judge ruled upon on Monday, he will next order changes to the company’s business to fix the illegal behavior.

Meta

The F.T.C. The F.T.C. sued Meta in December 2020 for creating a social media monopoly by purchasing Instagram and WhatsApp. The F.T.C. argued that the mergers deprived users of alternative social media platforms. The lawsuit has had more twists and turn than other antitrust cases involving Big Tech. The lawsuit was filed at the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia, before the company changed their name from Facebook to Meta. Judge James Boasberg dismissed it in 2021, stating that the F.T.C. The F.T.C. didn’t define the market it accused Meta of monopolizing. He allowed the agency to refile their lawsuit and it went forward the following year.

The F.T.C. The F.T.C. joined 40 other states in accusing Facebook that it bought both Instagram and WhatsApp over a decade earlier to suppress competition that might have challenged the company’s dominant position. The regulators want the deals unwound.

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