Feds Set To Launch Antitrust Investigations Of Silicon Valley Tech Titans
SAN JOSE (KPIX) -- The announcement that several Silicon Valley tech giants could soon be at the center of a federal investigation came just as Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference kicked off Monday.
According to CBS News, the Trump administration and members of Congress are gearing up for the anti-trust and anti-competitive investigation into Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon.
Meanwhile, the House Judiciary Committee announced a bipartisan probe into market dominance by several tech giants, CBS News also reported.
"I'm a tech person and I'm kind of concerned like everybody," said David Neal, who works in the tech industry and was attending WWDC. "Are people becoming monopolistic and reducing competition?"
However, Neal believes the government should keep a watchful eye for bad practices, but not necessarily break up big tech if nothing is going on.
"We should look at times when maybe they're stifling the market and killing competition. On the other hand, if companies are innovating and doing new things, we have to be very careful not to stifle that," Neal said. "I'm not so sure that it's very easy for the government to come in and figure these things out."
Neal pointed to the anti-trust investigation into Microsoft 20 years ago when the government forced the company to follow certain rules for years as the tech industry changed and evolved.
"You may start to tackle a problem today that is irrelevant in a couple of years," said Neal. "I think you know if you're not careful you'll be solving yesterday's problem down the road."
The announcement of the probes comes just two days after presidential hopeful Senator Elizabeth Warren spoke at the California Democratic Party's annual convention.
"We will break up big ag, we will break up big banks, we will break up big tech," she said.
Google did not want to comment on the investigation.
KPIX also reached out to Apple, Amazon and Facebook. Those companies have yet to respond.
The WWDC is an event that showcases its new software and technology to developers. The event continues until Friday.
