The US government has long had the country’s biggest tech giants in its sights, and in 2024, it achieved its goal.
The big one victory This came in August when the Justice Department convinced a federal district court judge that Google (Google, Google) abused its search engine dominance and violated antitrust law.
“Google is a monopoly, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” the judge wrote in his letter. to rule.
It was the government’s biggest antitrust victory against any major company since prosecutors went after AT&T in the 1980s and Microsoft in the 1990s.
Prosecutors then asked the same judge to force Alphabet, Google’s parent company, to sell parts of its empire, a dramatic request that will be implemented in a separate phase of the trial in 2025. The end result could be the dismantling of the glittering Silicon Valley empire that had been assembled. Over two decades.
What happened in 2024 could have future implications for some other big names in the tech world.
apple (Apple), Amazon (Amzn), and meta (dead) They are all defending themselves against a series of other federal and state-led antitrust lawsuits, some of which make similar claims.
For now, Wall Street does not appear to be troubled. Shares of the so-called Magnificent Seven of the world’s largest technology companies helped push the market higher in 2024, thanks in part to advances in artificial intelligence.
They include Apple, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and Nvidia (NVDA), Tesla (TSLA), and the alphabet. In fact, Alphabet hit an all-time record high this month.
Some legal experts argue that the government’s antitrust gains in 2024 are still too early to seriously raise the tech giants.
“The Biden administration has moved antitrust into the field in some ways,” the University of Tennessee law professor said. Maurice Stock. “But are we in the end zone? No.”
Cases alleging that companies acted illegally to maintain a monopoly take years to work through the court system. Stock said the most present risk for tech giants is the possibility that the government will try to block new proposals Mergers Or that AI startups may outperform their business.
“It gives them more chills than any regulator,” Stock said. “They don’t want to be next Intel“.
Amy Buss, director of state and federal affairs for technology company NetChoice (which also represents Yahoo Finance), agreed that the government’s merger challenges pose the most looming threats.
“It shows up in the boardroom,” she said. “I think there is an increasing hesitation by companies about merging or growing their business, because they may be subject to greater scrutiny.”
Could that change once President-elect Donald Trump takes office?
There is uncertainty surrounding this question. After all, Trump has made clear that he has no intention of going easy on the country’s tech giants Once he returns to the Oval Office.
“Big Tech has been unruly for years,” Trump said in a statement after nominating Jill Slater, an aide to Vice President-elect J.D. Vance, to lead the Justice Department’s antitrust division.
He added that the industry “stifles competition in our most innovative sector and, as we all know, uses its market power to suppress the rights of many Americans, as well as the rights of Little Tech!”
“I was proud to fight these abuses in my first term, and the Department of Justice’s antitrust team will continue that work under Jill’s leadership,” he added.
It was the first Trump administration that initially sued Google over antitrust concerns, leading to a ruling by a district court judge in August that the tech giant… Illegal monopoly Search engine market.
The Federal Trade Commission also sought this during the first Trump administration relax Meta’s acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp in a case scheduled to go to trial in April.
The first Trump administration also launched an antitrust investigation into Apple (application), which prompted the Biden administration to sue the iPhone maker earlier this year.
US President-elect Donald Trump speaks to Brendan Carr, his potential nominee for FCC Chairman, on November 19. Brandon Bell/Pool via Reuters ·Via Reuters/Reuters
Just days before his appointment to the presidency, Carr sent letters to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Apple CEO Tim Cook, anticipating “widespread action to restore editing rights.” “First for Americans” once Trump took office. .
Many of these CEOs have spent time since Trump’s election trying to curry favor with the president-elect, meeting with him in person at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort or donating large sums to Trump’s inaugural fund.
Trump has sent some mixed messages about how far he wants to go to hold tech companies accountable.
During his election campaign, he was asked whether he supported breaking up Google as an antidote to unhealthy competition in the search engine market. Trump suggested that Google’s punishment could be implemented without forcing it to sell parts of its empire.
“What you can do without dismantling it is make sure it’s fairer,” Trump said in an October 15 interview. The former president described Google’s search engine as “rigged” and expressed concern that the consequences that Google will bear in this case may favor China.
Google CEO Pichai said of Trump: “In my conversations with him, he was certainly very focused on American competitiveness, especially in technology, including artificial intelligence.”
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, speaks during The New York Times’ annual DealBook Summit on December 4. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images) ·Michael M. Santiago via Getty Images
When asked at the New York Times’ DealBook Summit in New York whether Trump’s election changes the dynamic of Google’s antitrust case, he said, “This is a Department of Justice case, and the case is already in court,” noting that it began during Trump’s first term. . .
“So I don’t have any specific thoughts about that.” He added that the company “will defend itself there.”
Stock, the University of Tennessee law professor, predicted that antitrust enforcement will remain more aggressive than it was under the administrations of Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan.
“Although antitrust may not be the same under Trump as it was under Biden, it will never go back to the way it was before.”
Alexis Keenan is a legal correspondent for Yahoo Finance. Follow Alexis on X @alexiskweed.
