This combination of file photos shows Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Apple CEO Tim Cook. (Photo: DSK/AFP via Getty Images)
As Big Tech CEOs Face Historic Anti-Trust Hearing, New 'Merger Tracker' Reveals Outsized Power of Silicon Valley Titans
"Policymakers and enforcers have allowed these big tech barons to bully workers, consumers, and businesses for far too long."
Ahead of the first congressional anti-trust hearing in decades on Wednesday, a corporate watchdog group unveiled a pair of digital tracking tools documenting how Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Apple have used monopoly power acquired through mergers and acquisitions to bilk consumers, abuse workers, and "threaten our democracy itself."
The American Economic Liberties Project's (AELP) Big Tech Merger Tracker shows that the four tech behemoths have completed a combined 573 acquisitions since 1988, the year Apple bought up four of its potential competitors.
"Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google use mergers and acquisitions to gain market power, acquire data, and snuff out any threats from would-be competitors."
--American Economic Liberties Project
"Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google use mergers and acquisitions to gain market power, acquire data, and snuff out any threats from would-be competitors," said AELP. Out of the four companies, Google leads the way with 255 publicly-disclosed acquisitions, followed by Apple with 121 and Amazon with 111.
The group's Big Tech Abuse Tracker lists dozens of harmful recent actions by the four tech giants that, according to AELP, stem directly from their consolidation of power in the technology, social media, and e-commerce markets.
"Their monopoly power immunizes them from competitive or consumer pressure," the group says, "so policy change is the only path to achieving meaningful, sustainable reform."
Among the abuses AELP cites are Amazon's retaliation against employees in March for blowing the whistle on the company's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic; Apple's failure to pay workers for time spent participating in mandatory bag and device checks; Facebook's decision this year to allow misinformation in political ads posted on its platform; and Google's 2019 firing of four workers who were attempting to form a union.
"From promoting racist propaganda to collecting user data without consent to spreading misinformation during a global pandemic, Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google have been caught directly threatening civil rights, public health, and the durability of our democracy," AELP said.
AELP's new tools come as Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Apple CEO Tim Cook are set to testify at 12:00pm ET Wednesday before the House Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law. The hearing is part of the subcommittee's 13-month investigation into possible violations of anti-trust law by major tech corporations.
"At the hearing, evidence from that investigation may finally make its way into public record," The Verge reported Tuesday. "Throughout its year of investigations, the committee has acquired at least 1.3 million documents from the testifying companies, held five public hearings, and conducted hundreds of hours of interviews... Members of the committee are heading into this week's hearing with a huge pile of receipts, leaving little room for the executives to avoid uncomfortable lines of questioning."
Sarah Miller, executive director of AELP, said in a statement Wednesday that "policymakers and enforcers have allowed these big tech barons to bully workers, consumers, and businesses for far too long."
"The outcome of the subcommittee's investigation into their monopoly power is central not only to whether markets will become more fair, but whether Congress will reassert its power over a handful of men whose corporations threaten our democracy itself."
Watch the hearing:
Urgent. It's never been this bad.
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission from the outset was simple. To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It’s never been this bad out there. And it’s never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed and doing some of its best and most important work, the threats we face are intensifying. Right now, with just four days to go in our Spring Campaign, we are not even halfway to our goal. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Can you make a gift right now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? There is no backup plan or rainy day fund. There is only you. —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Ahead of the first congressional anti-trust hearing in decades on Wednesday, a corporate watchdog group unveiled a pair of digital tracking tools documenting how Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Apple have used monopoly power acquired through mergers and acquisitions to bilk consumers, abuse workers, and "threaten our democracy itself."
The American Economic Liberties Project's (AELP) Big Tech Merger Tracker shows that the four tech behemoths have completed a combined 573 acquisitions since 1988, the year Apple bought up four of its potential competitors.
"Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google use mergers and acquisitions to gain market power, acquire data, and snuff out any threats from would-be competitors."
--American Economic Liberties Project
"Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google use mergers and acquisitions to gain market power, acquire data, and snuff out any threats from would-be competitors," said AELP. Out of the four companies, Google leads the way with 255 publicly-disclosed acquisitions, followed by Apple with 121 and Amazon with 111.
The group's Big Tech Abuse Tracker lists dozens of harmful recent actions by the four tech giants that, according to AELP, stem directly from their consolidation of power in the technology, social media, and e-commerce markets.
"Their monopoly power immunizes them from competitive or consumer pressure," the group says, "so policy change is the only path to achieving meaningful, sustainable reform."
Among the abuses AELP cites are Amazon's retaliation against employees in March for blowing the whistle on the company's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic; Apple's failure to pay workers for time spent participating in mandatory bag and device checks; Facebook's decision this year to allow misinformation in political ads posted on its platform; and Google's 2019 firing of four workers who were attempting to form a union.
"From promoting racist propaganda to collecting user data without consent to spreading misinformation during a global pandemic, Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google have been caught directly threatening civil rights, public health, and the durability of our democracy," AELP said.
AELP's new tools come as Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Apple CEO Tim Cook are set to testify at 12:00pm ET Wednesday before the House Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law. The hearing is part of the subcommittee's 13-month investigation into possible violations of anti-trust law by major tech corporations.
"At the hearing, evidence from that investigation may finally make its way into public record," The Verge reported Tuesday. "Throughout its year of investigations, the committee has acquired at least 1.3 million documents from the testifying companies, held five public hearings, and conducted hundreds of hours of interviews... Members of the committee are heading into this week's hearing with a huge pile of receipts, leaving little room for the executives to avoid uncomfortable lines of questioning."
Sarah Miller, executive director of AELP, said in a statement Wednesday that "policymakers and enforcers have allowed these big tech barons to bully workers, consumers, and businesses for far too long."
"The outcome of the subcommittee's investigation into their monopoly power is central not only to whether markets will become more fair, but whether Congress will reassert its power over a handful of men whose corporations threaten our democracy itself."
Watch the hearing:
Ahead of the first congressional anti-trust hearing in decades on Wednesday, a corporate watchdog group unveiled a pair of digital tracking tools documenting how Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Apple have used monopoly power acquired through mergers and acquisitions to bilk consumers, abuse workers, and "threaten our democracy itself."
The American Economic Liberties Project's (AELP) Big Tech Merger Tracker shows that the four tech behemoths have completed a combined 573 acquisitions since 1988, the year Apple bought up four of its potential competitors.
"Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google use mergers and acquisitions to gain market power, acquire data, and snuff out any threats from would-be competitors."
--American Economic Liberties Project
"Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google use mergers and acquisitions to gain market power, acquire data, and snuff out any threats from would-be competitors," said AELP. Out of the four companies, Google leads the way with 255 publicly-disclosed acquisitions, followed by Apple with 121 and Amazon with 111.
The group's Big Tech Abuse Tracker lists dozens of harmful recent actions by the four tech giants that, according to AELP, stem directly from their consolidation of power in the technology, social media, and e-commerce markets.
"Their monopoly power immunizes them from competitive or consumer pressure," the group says, "so policy change is the only path to achieving meaningful, sustainable reform."
Among the abuses AELP cites are Amazon's retaliation against employees in March for blowing the whistle on the company's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic; Apple's failure to pay workers for time spent participating in mandatory bag and device checks; Facebook's decision this year to allow misinformation in political ads posted on its platform; and Google's 2019 firing of four workers who were attempting to form a union.
"From promoting racist propaganda to collecting user data without consent to spreading misinformation during a global pandemic, Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google have been caught directly threatening civil rights, public health, and the durability of our democracy," AELP said.
AELP's new tools come as Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Apple CEO Tim Cook are set to testify at 12:00pm ET Wednesday before the House Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law. The hearing is part of the subcommittee's 13-month investigation into possible violations of anti-trust law by major tech corporations.
"At the hearing, evidence from that investigation may finally make its way into public record," The Verge reported Tuesday. "Throughout its year of investigations, the committee has acquired at least 1.3 million documents from the testifying companies, held five public hearings, and conducted hundreds of hours of interviews... Members of the committee are heading into this week's hearing with a huge pile of receipts, leaving little room for the executives to avoid uncomfortable lines of questioning."
Sarah Miller, executive director of AELP, said in a statement Wednesday that "policymakers and enforcers have allowed these big tech barons to bully workers, consumers, and businesses for far too long."
"The outcome of the subcommittee's investigation into their monopoly power is central not only to whether markets will become more fair, but whether Congress will reassert its power over a handful of men whose corporations threaten our democracy itself."
Watch the hearing: