(Reuters] – Big Tech platforms Meta Platforms Inc., formerly Facebook (NASDAQ): and Google were hit by a number of antitrust suits brought against them by U.S. states and the federal government. They are accused of operating monopolies in their respective industries and abusing power.

Here is the current status and information about government investigations of Apple Inc (NASDAQ 🙂 and Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ :).

Meta:

In mid-August 2021 the U.S. Federal Trade Commission brought a second complaint against Facebook. This included more details about the accusations that Facebook had bought or crushed rivals, and again asked a judge for a order to make WhatsApp and Instagram sell. Judge James Boasberg invited the agency to do so. He had previously stated that it failed in its earlier efforts. Facebook asked that the lawsuit be dismissed without prejudice.

Boasberg, however tossed out the related state suit, declaring that the attorneys general had waited too much.

Four lawsuits against Google:

The U.S. Justice Department sued Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ) Inc. Google in October 2000. It claimed the $1 trillion-accountable company had used its market strength to hurt rivals. The trial was scheduled for September 12, 2023.

The government will soon file another lawsuit against the company, this time focusing on its digital advertising business.

Google is being sued by 38 U.S. territories and states. They claim that Google has used its market power to increase its dominance in search engines inside TVs, speakers and cars. The federal lawsuit was also consolidated for discovery purposes.

Texas filed another lawsuit against Google, supported by other states in December 2020. The suit accused Google of breaking antitrust laws when it manages its online advertising businesses.

Google was sued by dozens state attorneys general on July 7. They claimed that Google bought competitors and made use of restrictive contracts to maintain an illegal monopoly over its Android phone app store.

Justice Department investigates Apple:

In June 2019, Apple Inc. revealed that a probe had been launched. Apple has been accused by some app developers of creating new apps that are very similar to those created by others and selling them in its Apple Store. Then, they tried to remove older apps from the Apple Store because they were competing with the new Apple product. Apple asserts that it only wants the top-quality apps to be available on its app store.

Federal Trade Commission on Amazon

The FTC will likely investigate the conflict of interests that Amazon has with small sellers through its marketplace platform. This could include allegations that Amazon used seller information to determine which products it would offer.