The four major tech companies, Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook are currently under intense scrutiny by the United States government. U.S. Congress is currently assessing the business practices of these tech giants to determine whether any remedial action is necessary to create a healthier, more competitive marketplace. For example, the software company Basecamp has complained that Google has a monopoly over the internet search engine market to the point where it can charge higher-than-market-rate prices and unwarranted fees at its leisure. Basecamp argues that its competitors are able to pay Google so they appear as the first result in the search engine, even when people search specifically for the word “Basecamp.” Samsonite, who raised a similar issue with Amazon, argues that advertisers, competitors of Samsonite, can pay to be the first result in the query results, even when a shopper searches for “Samsonite luggage.” A different complaint came from Tile, a company that makes small Bluetooth trackers to help find lost items. Tile argues that Apple’s “Find My” tracking app favors the interests of Apple over its competitors. According to Tile, Apple does this by including “Find My” as a pre-loaded app on its devices, programming the devices to actually request permission for location-tracking during initial operating system setup and making it impossible to delete the “Find My” app. On the other hand, if a consumer wants to use the Tile app, they are required to first download the app and then make changes in their phone’s settings that grants Tile permission to track their location. Tile argues this special treatment given to Apple creates an unfair playing field and makes it more difficult for Tile to compete with Apple. These claims by Basecamp, Samsonite, and Tile are only a few of many that have been brought forth recently against the major tech companies.
