Big Tech is More Essential Than Ever. That Won’t Stop Antitrust Hawks.
By Emily Birnbaum, Protocol
Coronavirus has laid bare how powerful — and important — big tech is. Antitrust hawks are paying extremely close attention.
Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon have come to the rescue in the coronavirus crisis, building testing tools, sharing data, delivering groceries and other supplies, and earning accolades along the way.
But if the tech giants think this will put an end to their antitrust woes, their critics have a different message: Think again.
“People have been asking, ‘Is tech lash over?'” American Economic Liberties Project’s Sarah Miller, one of the primary architects of the modern trustbusting movement, told Protocol. “A terrifying crisis is a great moment for the tech platforms to try to burnish their image.”
To influential antitrust hawks, the crisis only underlines the arguments they have been making for years about the unmitigated power of big tech. And it’s not just interest groups redoubling their efforts. Some of tech’s primary antagonists on Capitol Hill told Protocol that they’re watching closer than ever to see if Google, Facebook, Amazon and Apple abuse their dominant market positions to wipe out competition or exploit their reams of user data.