Barr Sees Big-Tech Probe Wrapping Up by Next Year
11 Dicembre 2019 - 12:32AM
Dow Jones News
By Tim Hanrahan and Brent Kendall
WASHINGTON -- Attorney General William Barr said he would like
for the Justice Department probe of Big Tech to wrap up next year,
while also warning that law enforcement would look at broader
business practices unrelated to antitrust concerns.
The government has to move quickly and "fish or cut bait," he
said, in an interview at The Wall Street Journal CEO Council
gathering in Washington on Tuesday, citing the cost to business and
the marketplace from long investigations.
The Justice Department is conducting a broad antitrust review
into whether dominant technology companies, such as Facebook Inc.
and Alphabet Inc.'s Google, are unlawfully stifling
competition.
Mr. Barr said there is bipartisan support on Capitol Hill and a
"complete consensus" among the Justice Department and state
attorneys general that something should be done. He said that could
be an enforcement action or "an opportunity for legislative
proposals."
Mr. Barr also said he was receptive to the idea that there could
be monopolistic harm to users regarding personal data, even if the
consumer doesn't pay for a service.
"I am inclined to think there is no free lunch. Something that
is free is actually getting paid for one way or the other. So I am
open to that argument."
Shortly after the Journal event, Mr. Barr addressed concerns
about tech companies in a speech before the National Association of
Attorneys General, telling a room full of state AGs that the tech
probe was among his priorities. Most states also are investigating
tech giants on concerns that they have stifled competition.
Mr. Barr said online platforms offer a range of services that
require government law enforcers to take a broad look at the
companies' practices.
"Fair competition can cure many of the ills we see," he said,
but added that the government's wide review "also requires looking
beyond antitrust."
If the tech giants are inflicting harm on society outside of the
issue of competition, the department will look at whether there are
other tools to address them, Mr. Barr said. He cited potential
concerns about privacy, transparency, child exploitation and
consumer safety and fraud.
The attorney general also voiced concerns about the broad civil
immunity that internet companies enjoy under the Communications
Decency Act for material that is published on their platforms.
Mr. Barr favorably cited a dissenting opinion this year from
Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Robert Katzmann in a
terrorism case that banned civil claims against Facebook. Other
judges found the act barred allegations that Facebook was civilly
liable because its algorithms matched the Hamas organization with
people that supported its cause.
Judge Katzmann's dissent argued that Congress never intended for
online-platform immunity to be so broad.
Write to Tim Hanrahan at tim.hanrahan@wsj.com and Brent Kendall
at brent.kendall@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 10, 2019 18:17 ET (23:17 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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