Europe and the United States Have Successively Tightened Supervision of Internet Companies
The legal woes of big technology companies are expected to worsen in the coming weeks as the US federal and state antitrust authorities prepare to file new lawsuits against Facebook and Google. Currently, the US federal and state government officials are investigating whether the tech giants have abused their influence in the Internet economy because they believe Google dominates search and advertising, and Facebook dominates social media. Google and Facebook have denied these, saying that they operate in a highly competitive market and that their services are mostly free, which benefits consumers. In addition, the UK plans to set up a "Digital Markets Unit" dedicated to managing digital platforms in April 2021 to supervise large technology companies including Google and Facebook to prevent them from harming the interests of consumers and small businesses and encourage competition. These companies currently have huge digital advertising markets. The European Union has also taken action in this regard. The EU recently unveiled a proposal to regain control of data from technology companies, and will unveil details of a sweeping reform aimed at preventing Internet giants from stifling competition next month.