Mnuchin Urges Antitrust Probe of Tech After Google Report
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin urged the Justice Department to review the power that large technology firms such as Google have over the American economy, the latest U.S. official to back antitrust scrutiny of the industry.
A “60 Minutes” segment on Sunday devoted to assertions that Alphabet Inc.’s Google wields a destructive monopoly in online search hammered home the notion of the company’s dominance during a time of heightened public concern with technology giants. The report didn’t include new allegations about the company.
“These issues deserve to be reviewed carefully,” Mnuchin said in a CNBC interview early 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 adds 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, saidcompetition officials need to keep an eye on digital platform companies that may be abusing their market power to thwart rivals.
With the Facebook saga that private information was captured and sold to clients it is time to start spot checking Google. The ability of Google to know exactly what you are shopping or looking at is a very scary thing concerning a person’s private life.
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