September 2019

Lawmakers Urge Aggressive Action From Regulators on Big Tech

The Senate Antitrust Subcommittee pressed top antitrust regulators to aggressively investigate the power of the country’s biggest tech companies, with some lawmakers questioning whether the officials had the will or resources to take on Silicon Valley’s richest businesses. The lawmakers pushed for assurances that the agencies would provide vigorous oversight of the companies. But the regulators — Joe Simons, the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, and Makan Delrahim, the top antitrust official at the Justice Department — offered few details about their inquiries into the industry.

US Antitrust Enforcers Signal Discord Over Probes of Big Tech

Bad blood between the the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department's antitrust division -- entities investigating the giants of the tech industry -- has grown more intense with the delivery of a letter from one agency to the other that might be considered the equivalent of a brushback pitch. Both agencies assert authority to investigate whether US companies are violating antitrust law by squeezing out competition.