DOJ opens anti-trust investigation into Big Tech: Facebook, Google, Apple, Twitter and Amazon

The Justice Department is opening a broad antitrust review into whether dominant technology firms are unlawfully stifling competition, adding a new Washington threat for companies such as Facebook, Google, Amazon.com and Apple.

The agency will examine practices of online platforms that dominate internet search, social media and retail services, the DOJ said in a statement Tuesday.

In a June interview, Apple CEO Tim Cook said “I don’t think anybody reasonable is gonna come to the conclusion that Apple’s a monopoly,” because “we don’t have a dominant position in any market.”

The DOJ said in Tuesday’s release that it’s looking into competition, “stifled innovation” and the impact on consumers.

“Without the discipline of meaningful market-based competition, digital platforms may act in ways that are not responsive to consumer demands,” said Makan Delrahim, assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s antitrust division, in the statement. “The Department’s antitrust review will explore these important issues.”

Shares of Alphabet (Google’s parent company), Apple, Facebook and Amazon fell in after-hours trading.

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