President-elect Donald Trump "declares war" on tech giants

US President-elect Donald Trump has made it clear that he has no intention of loosening the country's grip on tech giants after returning to the White House.

In the latest sign, Mr Trump announced he would nominate Gail Slater, an assistant to Vice President-elect JD Vance, to head the antitrust division of the US Justice Department.

US President-elect Donald Trump will not ease regulations on big tech companies.

Writing on the social media platform Truth Social, Mr. Trump explained the nomination as aimed at addressing the problem of large technology companies operating freely for many years, stifling competition and taking advantage of market power to limit the benefits of many Americans, as well as smaller technology companies.

Ms. Slater served as a technology policy adviser at the National Economic Council during Mr. Trump’s first term. Before that, she spent 10 years at the Federal Trade Commission, including as an adviser to former Democratic FTC Commissioner Julie Brill under President Barack Obama. The FTC, along with the Justice Department, is responsible for enforcing U.S. antitrust laws.

The president-elect’s nomination and comments suggest the new administration is likely to continue a series of investigations and lawsuits into how the largest tech companies, including Alphabet (Google’s parent company), maintain their dominance.

The Trump administration sued Google on antitrust issues during its first term, leading to a district court judge ruling in August 2024 that the tech giant had unlawful control of the search engine market. The Justice Department has asked the court to consider breaking up the company in another phase of the trial, which is expected to conclude in 2025.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr.

Also in the previous term, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sought to undo Meta's acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, with a trial scheduled for April 2025. The Trump administration launched an antitrust investigation into the giant Apple, paving the way for President Joe Biden's administration to sue the iPhone maker earlier this year.

Another worrying sign for big tech companies was last month when billionaire Trump appointed Brendan Carr as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Just days before his appointment, Carr sent letters to Google CEOs Sundar Pichai, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Apple’s Tim Cook, warning that their companies’ operations would be investigated after Trump took office.

Still, Mr. Trump has sent mixed messages about how much he wants to hold tech companies accountable. When asked during the campaign whether he would support breaking up Google to address unfair competition in the search engine market, the politician suggested that Google could be punished without having to sell off parts of the company.

Mr Trump expressed concern that penalties against Google on this topic, especially a breakup of the company, could benefit China.

(Source Reuters, AP)

Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/tong-thong-dac-cu-donald-trump-tuyen-chien-voi-cac-ong-lon-cong-nghe-192241206151143133.htm