When regulators fail to reign in Big Tech, some turn to antitrust litigation

When it comes to keeping monopolists in check, the government has played the leading role, from President Teddy Roosevelt battling the railroad at the turn of the century to the Department of Justice taking on Microsoft in the 1990s. Lately, though, it’s been other corporations and, in some cases, individuals standing up to the likes of Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon, all of which have been accused of wielding monopoly power unfairly. For years, antitrust regulators and lawmakers around the world have weighed whether to take action against big technology companies accused of abusing their power. Most recently, the Department of Justice and state attorneys general have announced investigations into large technology companies. The House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust subcommittee has subpoenaed documents from technology companies relating to allegedly anticompetitive behavior and has been posting them online following a hearing last month featuring the CEOs of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google. With little to show for all the investigations and public hand-wringing, the private industry is moving forward with lawsuits instead.