Over the last several months, the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission have reached agreements to probe different tech companies for different activities. The Justice Department, for instance, has received clearance to probe whether Apple has engaged in “illegal monopolization tactics.”
At the review’s current state, there’s said to be no end goal just yet, other than “to understand whether there are antitrust problems that need addressing.” Over time, the investigation could lead to “more focused investigations” of specific companies.
One focus of the investigation will be how tech companies have grown in size, and therefore expanded into new areas and businesses.
Ultimately, Justice Department officials say this new antitrust review will allow them to “seek extensive input and information from industry participants, and eventually from the dominant tech firms themselves.” At this point, it’s unclear how much of this information gathering will be done voluntarily, or if tech companies will be asked to turn over materials.
Last week, Apple was summoned to Congress to testify in front of the House Judiciary Committee on antitrust and anti-competition concerns. Apple is also facing several investigations in Europe, including one pertaining to Apple Music. AAPL dropped nearly 1% on today’s news.
