Open Markets Hails House Judiciary Committee for Launching Investigation of Big Tech Monopolies

Washington, DC — Open Markets Institute strongly applauds the House Judiciary Committee’s announcement yesterday that it is launching a bipartisan “top-to-bottom” antitrust investigation of Silicon Valley’s biggest tech monopolies. The announcement came the same day the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Justice Department agreed to divide up antitrust enforcement jurisdiction over Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Apple in a shift from what was previously a “hands-off” approach to Silicon Valley.

This announcement is a major step forward by Congress in protecting American democracy, citizens’ privacy, and fair competition in open markets. This Congressional investigation comes as lawmakers from both sides have made increasingly strong calls for the break up of big tech monopolies, and US state attorneys general have signaled a growing willingness to challenge the monopoly power of Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Google.

“This is an extremely encouraging move by Congress,” said Open Markets Executive Director Barry Lynn. “It’s very promising to see our lawmakers finally open a real investigation into the nature of dangers posed by these corporations, and how to address these threats. We applaud the very strong leadership of Chairman Jerrod Nadler, Rep. David Cicilline and Rep. Doug Collins.”

CNN reported that Committee officials have notified Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook of the coming investigation; Rep. Cicilline said he wants to hear from senior tech executives, and that he won't hesitate to issue subpoenas to corporations that fail to cooperate.

Open Markets looks forward to seeing the results of the Committee’s investigation. It is the first step towards the substantive restructuring of these corporations, and the restoration of an open and democratic economy in America.