Facebook, Google, Amazon And Other Big Tech Firms Could Be Targeted In Federal Probes

The U.S. House Judiciary Committee announced late Monday that it would launch an investigation into competition in the digital tech industry. Federal regulators could be setting their sights on Facebook (FB), Google (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN) and Apple (AAPL) in an attempt to reveal whether those companies have too much power in the tech market.

"A small number of dominate, unregulated platforms have extraordinary power over commerce, communication and information online," the Judiciary Committee said in a news release Monday. "Based on investigative reporting and oversight by international policymakers and enforcers, there are concerns that these platforms have the incentive and ability to harm the competitive process."

The Committee pledged to do a "top-to-bottom review of the market power held by giant tech platforms."

On Monday, the U.S. Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) told Reuters that they were also gearing to launch a seperate investigation into competitive practices of big tech companies. This investigation will be divided, with Amazon and Facebook being looked at by the FTC and Apple and Google under the watch of the Justice Department

The tech-heavy Nasdaq stock index fell 1.6% on Monday due to concerns over the investigation, Barron's reported.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said that big tech firms deserve to be scrutinized. "It's got so much power, and so unregulated," he said. Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal also agreed with a probe."Their predatory power grabs demand strict and stiff investigation and antitrust action," he tweeted Monday.

U.S. President Donald Trump has criticized social media networks such as Facebook, because he believes they censor conservative beliefs. He also has alleged that commerce giant Amazon is a "monopoly" and said that they have a "huge antitrust problem."