In a blog post by Daniel Crane, a University of Michigan law professor, he discusses an informal survey he conducted with 50 of his peers from law schools across the country regarding the federal government’s antitrust lawsuits against Amazon, Apple, Facebook’s Meta, and Google. The survey revealed that the law professors believed Amazon had the strongest case against the government, followed by Apple, Meta, and Google, which was ranked the weakest. The respondents were considered distinguished in the field and spanned the ideological spectrum of antitrust professionals.
The antitrust cases against the four tech giants have been grouped into five buckets for simplicity: Google search, Google’s ad technology, Meta/Facebook, Amazon, and Apple. The responses from the professors varied, with some calling all four cases “manure” and others seeing them as powerful stories of monopolists fighting to maintain market power. Google was considered to have the strongest government case, while Amazon was seen as having the weakest.
The key factor in establishing an antitrust case is proving that the defendant is a monopolist. Only then can the government proceed to proving anticompetitive behavior. Google is seen as clearly crossing the threshold of being a monopolist, particularly in online search and advertising. Amazon, on the other hand, is huge but whether it meets the definition of a monopolist is less clear. Eleanor Fox, an antitrust expert at New York University School of Law, emphasized the importance of establishing monopolistic behavior in antitrust cases.
Overall, the law professors surveyed by Crane had varying opinions on the strength of the government’s cases against the tech giants. While Google was seen as having a strong case due to its market share in online search and advertising, Amazon was considered weaker in terms of being classified as a monopolist. The opinions of the professors, while not a scientific study, offer insights into the complexity of antitrust law and the challenges of proving monopolistic behavior in the tech industry.
As the lawsuits against Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Google unfold, it will be interesting to see how the government’s antitrust arguments are received in court. The tech industry is facing increasing scrutiny over anticompetitive practices and monopolistic behavior, and these cases could have significant implications for the future regulation of big tech companies. The Final Four of antitrust lawsuits may not have the same excitement as the N.C.A.A. March Madness basketball tournament, but the outcomes could have far-reaching consequences for the tech industry and competition in the digital marketplace.
