Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL, ETR:APC), Google-owner Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) and other big tech firms are facing one of the largest clampdowns in the industry’s history after regulators in both North America and Europe targeted their anti-competitive practices.
With both the US and EU opening anti-trust cases against the tech giants, there is a growing likelihood that other countries could also launch investigations.
Such investigations could lead to the tech companies being forced by regulators to break up – the first regulator-led split since AT&T four decades ago.
Both Google and Apple have disagreed with recently launched cases, with the iPhone maker claiming its US lawsuit has wrongly interpreted the law and facts.
In 1984, AT&T, at the time called Ma Bell, was split up into seven companies including Verizon and Lumen as part of a regulator-led push to split up the US telecom monopoly.
Regulators now argue both Google and Apple have built “walled gardens” around their products which make it hard for customers to switch to competitors.
Last week, the US Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Apple which accuses it of monopolising the smartphone market and stifling competition, particularly through its control over the iPhone app store.