Appe, Google, and Amazon are already dealing with an antitrust investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice. Now it appears more fun is on the way as a new report says eight U.S. states are considering separate antitrust investigations of their own. Reuters reports the states reportedly met with the Attorney General on Thursday.
Eight state attorneys general met with U.S. Attorney General William Barr on Thursday to discuss the effect of big tech companies on competition, and various antitrust actions are being reviewed, the Texas attorney general’s office said in a statement.
The bipartisan group held discussions centered on “big tech companies stifling competition on the internet,” the statement said. The other participants were not named, although four other states have been identified as having attended.
“It was a productive meeting and we’re considering a range of possible antitrust actions against such companies,” the statement said.
Four other states have been named as possibilities.
New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, sent a representative to the Thursday meeting, and Florida was also present, according to a spokeswoman. Mississippi was at the meeting, a source said privately, and Politico reported that an official from Louisiana was there.
A Wednesday WSJ report described the federal probe as a “broad” one.
The Justice Department will examine issues including how the most dominant tech firms have grown in size and might–and expanded their reach into additional businesses. The Justice Department also is interested in how Big Tech has leveraged the powers that come with having very large networks of users, the officials said.
Apple has been the target recently of antitrust charges from both customers and developers in the company’s App Store. Class action lawsuits by both allege that Apple is a monopoly, as their App Store is the only way of buying and selling apps for the company’s iOS devices. Apple says it is not a monopoly as people are free to buy Android devices and purchase and develop apps for that platform.
