The European Union launched anti-competitive investigations on Monday against tech behemoths Apple, Alphabet, and Meta for potential breaches of the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The companies are alleged to have run afoul of the DMA, a law designed to monitor large online platforms or ‘gatekeepers.’ These are businesses with a large user base, active in […]
Google said on Monday that it would pay $700 million to settle a lawsuit filed by a group of U.S. states that accused the internet giant of running a monopoly on its Play Store to inflate prices for paid apps. The company agreed to pay $630 million into a settlement fund for consumers and $70 […]
A federal jury on Monday ruled in favor of Epic Games, the developer of popular video game “Fortnite,” in its antitrust lawsuit against Google, accusing the internet giant of operating as a monopoly on Android apps. Jurors in California ruled in favor of Epic on all counts, determining that Google holds monopoly power in both […]
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) subpoenaed a coalition of financial institutions and a corporate social responsibility advocacy group on Nov. 1 after they allegedly failed to respond to requests for documents as part of an ongoing probe into whether major climate groups may be violating federal antitrust laws. The Ohio lawmaker, who heads the House Judiciary […]
SAN FRANCISCO—Microsoft’s planned $69 billion purchase of video game company Activision Blizzard was blocked by a federal judge Tuesday, giving more time for an antitrust review of the deal. U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley in San Francisco ruled in support of a temporary restraining order sought by the Federal Trade Commission that will stop […]
A Virginia district court on April 28 rejected Google’s request to dismiss an antitrust lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) about the company’s advertising business. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, accuses Google of monopolizing key digital advertising technologies, known as the “ad tech stack,” […]
Nine states on Monday joined eight others in a lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice against Google for allegedly monopolizing multiple digital advertising technology products. The amended lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. It accuses Google of monopolizing key digital advertising technologies, known as the “ad […]
The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights holds a hearing at 3:00 p.m. ET on March 7 on “Reining in Dominant Digital Platforms: Restoring Competition to Our Digital Markets.” Fiona M. Scott Morton, Yale School of Management professor of economics; Chris Lewis, president and CEO of Public Knowledge; Daniel […]
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland makes an announcement about an antitrust matter at 2:00 p.m. ET on Jan. 24, accompanied by Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta and Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter. The Epoch Times will livestream the event.
Facebook parent company Meta has been warned by the European Commission that it has breached antitrust violations by distorting competition in the markets for online classified ads. The European Commission confirmed that it is investigating Meta’s practices on Monday when it released a statement of objections to the U.S. multinational technology company. “[Meta’s ]flagship product […]
Six Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee have launched an investigation looking into whether major climate groups are violating federal antitrust laws in their effort to push the “environmental, social, and governance” (ESG) agenda. Their concerns were raised in a letter dated Dec. 6 to two executives on the steering committee for investor group Climate […]
SAN FRANCISCO—Apple and the company behind the video game Fortnite squared off Monday before three federal appellate judges who will render the next decision in a high-stakes battle over whether Apple created an illegal monopoly via its exclusive control of its iPhone app store. Such monopolies typically stifle competition and drive up consumer prices. The […]
WASHINGTON—Seven directors on the boards of five companies have resigned because of the Justice Department’s concerns over the directors holding similar board positions at rival companies, the department said on Wednesday. Three directors resigned from the board of IT management software company SolarWinds Corp., one because the person was on the boards of both SolarWinds […]
WASHINGTON—A big group of states, led by New York, argued to an appeals court Monday that it should reinstate an antitrust lawsuit against Meta’s Facebook because of ongoing harm from the company’s actions and because the states had not waited too long to file their complaint. Barbara Underwood, solicitor general of New York which led […]
BRUSSELS—Apple faces a possible hefty fine and may have to open its mobile payment system to competitors after EU antitrust regulators charged the iPhone maker with restricting rivals’ access to its technology used for mobile wallets. This marks the second EU charge against Apple after EU regulators last year accused the company of distorting competition […]
A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) can proceed with an antitrust lawsuit against Meta, formerly known as Facebook, after dismissing the case in June last year. District of Columbia Judge James Boasberg said in a memorandum opinion that the FTC’s first complaint had “stumbled out of the starting blocks,” noting that the court […]
MILAN—Italy’s antitrust authority has fined U.S. tech giants Amazon.com and Apple Inc. a total of more than 200 million euros ($225 million) for alleged anti-competitive cooperation in the sale of Apple and Beats products. Contractual provisions of a 2018 agreement between the companies meant only selected resellers were allowed to sell Apple and Beats products […]
SHANGHAI—China’s months-long regulatory crackdown on an array of private companies has unsettled tech upstarts as well as decades-old firms, ushering in a new, uncertain environment. Top antitrust regulator the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) issued sweeping draft rules on Tuesday governing online competition as the cabinet updated rules for operators of information infrastructure that […]
