The Gryphon Gazette

By Ollie B. ‘25

When you want to look up something online, most people use one search engine: Google. If you want to order an item quickly, most people rely on one service: Amazon. In an increasingly digital world, the products and services produced by tech companies shape our lives. However, despite tech companies’ growing importance, only a few have succeeded and, as some may say, monopolized the industry. Typically referred to as “Big Tech,” Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft have dominated their respective industries while diminishing their competitors’ opportunities to flourish. Yet, through rising efforts from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ), Big Tech’s immense control and power might wane in the near future. 

Despite the current prominence of antitrust cases against Big Tech, the government’s efforts against monopolies began more than a century ago. During the early 20th century, Standard Oil was a corporation of massive scale, controlling almost all of the United State’s oil production at the time. At its peak, the company accumulated more than $1 trillion in today’s money. Standard Oil reached such growth by utilizing aggressive pricing techniques to eliminate its competition, and, due to such practices, antitrust regulators went against Standard Oil and broke up the corporation into 34 companies. These included Exxon Mobil and Chevron. Similarly, in 1974, the government went against AT&T, which monopolized telephone lines. After numerous years of legal action, AT&T relinquished its control of regional operating companies, labeled “Baby Bells,” as part of an agreement made in 1984. In the late 1980s, during the spark of the internet, Microsoft emerged as an upcoming and powerful tech company. With the launch of Windows, an operating system used considerably more than others at the time, the DOJ began targeting Microsoft in 1998. They hoped to split the company due to its size and infringement of antitrust laws. Eventually, in 2001, the government and Microsoft reached an agreement. While Microsoft remained intact, they could not impose restrictive contracts, had to allow computers to feature other software, and were forced to disclose more technical information.

During the next 20 years, legal action against Big Tech remained quiet until recently. Despite the trial against Microsoft producing minor setbacks for the company, they have continued to prosper, expanding to new sectors over the past two decades. Notably, Microsoft entered and succeeded in the gaming industry, such as creating XBOX and acquiring games like Minecraft. In their effort to control the sector, on January 18, 2022, Microsoft attempted to acquire Activision, a prominent game development company, for $69 billion. With Activision producing worldwide hits like Call of Duty and Overwatch, Microsoft’s acquisition severely impacted their primary competitors, Sony and Nintendo. However, due to the Biden administration’s promise to crack down on Big Tech, in December 2022, the FTC sued Microsoft to prevent the deal from transpiring. On June 12th, 2023, the FTC also attempted to file a temporary restraining order to prevent the Microsoft and Activision deal. However, with the District Court in the Northern District of California rejecting the FTC’s restraining order on July 11th, Microsoft can legally acquire Activision. With October 18th being the deal’s deadline, in just the next few weeks, Microsoft may own Activision and increase its gaming repertoire.

However, just as the DOJ was concerned about the extensive use of Microsoft’s Windows during the 1990s, leading to a trial against them, in just the past few weeks, Google began experiencing something similar. Google has been the default search engine on around 80% to 90% of devices, and they have achieved such widespread use through its contracts with other corporations. These companies included Apple, LG, Motorola, and Samsung. Due to such contracts, the DOJ has raised concerns as they believe making Google the default search browser has limited the opportunity for other search engines to be more widely adopted. There has specifically been criticism about Google’s contract with Apple. Since Apple and Androids (owned by Google) are the most commonly used smartphones in the industry, the majority of smartphones have Google as their default search engine. Therefore, some have considered Google to be running a monopoly, causing the DOJ, drawing heavily from the Microsoft case in the 1990s, to start a trial against Google on September 12, 2023. Despite the DOJ’s accusations against them, Alphabet believes they haven’t committed any wrongdoing as making Google the default search browser eases the experience for its users. The trial is currently ongoing.

Like Google, US antitrust regulators and the FTC have filed an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon on September 26, 2023. Led by Lina Khan, the chairwoman of the FTC, the US government has gone against Amazon: “Amazon’s actions allow it to stop rivals and sellers from lowering prices, degrade quality for shoppers, overcharge sellers, stifle innovation, and prevent rivals from fairly competing against Amazon.” Amazon created “artificially higher prices” by not allowing items to be sold less on other services, making it extremely difficult for other services to compete and emerge against Amazon. In response, David Zapolsky, Senior Vice President of Amazon, said, “If the FTC gets its way, the result would be fewer products to choose from, higher prices, slower deliveries for consumers and reduced options for small businesses — the opposite of what antitrust law is designed to do.” 

The recent accusations against Microsoft, Google, and Amazon represent a new age of the government going against Big Tech. The future is still uncertain, and with possible changes due to these trials, the tech industry in the future might look different than the one we see today.