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Joe Biden’s administration is going after major corporations with antitrust lawsuits.
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It’s an aggressive approach that makes Biden stand out from his predecessors.
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Prominent cases include Live Nation, Google, Apple, Amazon, Meta, as well as non-tech companies.
President Joe Biden is really leaning into his pro-labor image.
The Biden administration has launched antitrust investigations and lawsuits against several mega-companies, many of them in the technology sector, which it accuses of behaving like monopolies – and this is differentiating them from their predecessors.
“This is definitely a different agenda than previous presidents,” Rebecca Allensworth, an antitrust expert at Vanderbilt University, told Business Insider. “I think what Biden is saying… the consolidation and the power that big business has gotten over the last 20, 30 years is not good for the American consumer or for Americans in general. part of the market power that these large corporations have accumulated.”
Here are some of the biggest companies Biden has targeted.
Living Nation
This week, the Department of Justice presented a antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster parent company, Live Nation Entertainment, which Attorney General Merrick Garland accused of “anti-competitive and illegal” business practices that stifled innovation and led to worse experiences for fans, artists, promoters and vendors.
We are still awaiting a verdict in the years-long antitrust case against Google. The DOJ and several states have accused Google of monopolizing as a search engine and eliminating the competition.
Arguments in the case concluded earlier this month, leaving the future of Google (and much of the tech industry in general) in the hands of a U.S. district judge, who could either exonerate the company or find it liable and demand it make changes.
Litter
The Department of Justice filed suit antitrust lawsuit against Apple in March, accusing the company of taking control of the smartphone market by “delaying, degrading or outright blocking” competition. The company created a “smartphone monopoly,” the Justice Department argued, using restrictive policies, accessories and software.
Amazon
O The Federal Trade Commission took Amazon to court last year, accusing the company of luring customers into subscribing to its Prime memberships. The FTC alleged that Amazon “knowingly deceived millions of customers.” A Business Insider investigation previously found that the company was aware of its confusing sign-up infrastructure for years but failed to act on it. About that, an antitrust lawsuit filed against Amazon by the FTC is expected to begin in 2026.
goal
The FTC and dozens of states have filed suit against Meta, formerly Facebook, accusing the company of buying Instagram and WhatsApp to stifle competition.
“I think there’s a reason why they have at least one major monopolization case against each of the four major American technology companies,” Allensworth told BI. “Technology is too dominant. Technology has a dangerous level of market power and is overwhelming competition and creating products that are more dangerous and more expensive than they should be.”
However, the Biden administration is targeting more than just technology. He also participated in the merger of JetBlue and Spirit Airlines, that a federal judge ultimately blocked, and Kroger’s attempt to acquire Albertsons companieswhich is still pending after an F.T.C. lawsuit.
Collectively, it sends a clear message to companies that “the problem goes beyond technology,” Allensworth said. “Other sectors also suffer from concentration and could use some antitrust enforcement.”
But while the administration can launch investigations and litigation, the outcome is out of its hands.
“That really is up to the courts, and the courts are not immune to political change, but they are less susceptible to the winds of politics,” Allensworth said.
Read the original article at Business Insider
