Google in the hot seat as DOJ preps monopoly investigation

As we increasingly venture online for our everyday experience, concerns over internet monopolies have become commonplace.

This makes sense, however.  The speed at which the internet rose to prominence, combined with the ease of inclusion in the online domain, made the web realm the sort of dreamscape that none of us imagined would ever come to fruition.

Now, however, there is a major problem, specifically due to the way in which internet gatekeepers such as Google corral their traffic.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the U.S. Justice Department is preparing to begin an antitrust investigation into Google that could see the tech giant come under a new wave of scrutiny from regulators. According to people familiar with the matter, the antitrust division of the Justice Department has been gathering information and preparing for the investigation for weeks.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which shares antitrust authority with the Justice Department, has previously conducted antitrust investigations into Google on a broader scale but closed the investigation in 2013 with no action taken. Google did, however, make some voluntary changes to some of its business practices as a result of the investigation.

Google, along with others within the realm of social media, have long stood accused of bias, particularly in the weeks following the election of Donald Trump – at a time in which “resistance” rhetoric was of the utmost popularity.