Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Monday urged the Justice Department to examine the power that large technology firms such as Google have over the American economy, making him the latest U.S. official to back antitrust review of the industry.
A 60 Minutes segment on Sunday, devoted to assertions that Alphabet Inc.'s Google wields a destructive monopoly in online searching, hammered home the notion of the company's dominance during a time of heightened public concern with technology giants. The TV report didn't include new allegations about the company.
"These issues deserve to be reviewed carefully," Mnuchin said in a CNBC interview Monday in response to a question about the CBS News report. "These are issues the Justice Department needs to look at seriously, not for any one company, but as these technology companies have a greater and greater impact on the economy."
Mnuchin added to a chorus of concern in Washington about technology firms' effects on competition in various markets. Last month, the head of the Justice Department's antitrust division, Makan Delrahim, said competition officials need to keep an eye on digital platform companies that may be abusing their market power to thwart rivals.
And last week, Joe Simons, the new chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, which shares antitrust jurisdiction with the Justice Department, told senators that he's aware of the concerns raised about the size of technology firms, and he vowed that the agency would scrutinize mergers and conduct by the companies.
Michael Carrier, a professor of antitrust law at Rutgers University, said Delrahim is certainly listening to comments by Mnuchin and President Donald Trump, who has railed against Amazon.com, but that the antitrust division chief won't jump to open an investigation.
"It means that maybe he's going to look more carefully, but at the end of the day, if there is not a case that Google violated the antitrust laws, I don't think he's going to bring a case," Carrier said. "Sure, these companies are big, but that doesn't mean they violated the antitrust laws."
The 60 Minutes report highlighted how critics and rivals, such as Yelp, are trying to bring Europe's antitrust approach to Google to the U.S.
Margrethe Vestager, the European Union competition commissioner, told CBS that she is intent on stopping Google's "illegal behavior" in Web searches, suggesting that the regulator isn't appeased by the company's proposal to resolve charges the EU filed last year.
"You have to look at the power they have, and it's something the Justice Department, I hope, takes a serious look at," Mnuchin said, though he added that "issues of monopolies are out of my lane" and that it's up to the Justice Department to review antitrust violations.
On Monday, a group of organizations, including MoveOn.org and the Open Markets Institute, called for the FTC to break up Facebook Inc., saying it has too much power over democracy. The group wants Facebook's Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger spun off into separate businesses.
The Justice Department declined to comment. Facebook and Google didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
CBS featured guests who argued Google abuses its dominance in search and search advertising. It didn't show any evidence that U.S. lawmakers or enforcement agencies will target the company, according to a transcript. Nor did the segment mention the potential cases Vestager is pursuing against Google for its Android mobile software and advertising business.
Business on 05/22/2018