The net is slowly closing in on big tech companies

Google, Facebook and others are facing increasing pressures but change needs to come faster, writes Ben Chapman

US competition regulators ordered Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple and Facebook to hand over details on their takeovers of hundreds of smaller firms (Getty)

The net appears to finally be closing in around big tech firms, albeit far too slowly. Google was in court on Wednesday, attempting to overturn the first of three EU fines totalling €8.25bn (£6.92bn) for abusing its dominant position as the internet’s most important gatekeeper.

Meanwhile, US competition regulators ordered Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple and Facebook to hand over details on their takeovers of hundreds of smaller firms over the past decade.

The Federal Trade Commission wants to know if big tech has been buying up small tech in order to snuff out any competition before it poses a threat. There are almost certainly plenty of examples of exactly this happening, the question is whether it broke anti-trust law or not.