Big Tech feels the heat from Washington and small agency leaders dish: Tuesday Wake-Up Call – AdAge.com

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While Google prepares for the U.S. Department of Justice, which is building an antitrust case against the search giant, Facebook has its own case to worry about, coming out of the Federal Trade Commission, Axios reports. The FTC is pursuing an antitrust probe into Facebook and other investigations, including a review of 10 years of tech firms' acquisitions. If the agency wants to unwind deals or take other strong action, it will need a strong legal theory demonstrating harm to consumers and markets, Axios writes.

Google, Facebook, Amazon and Apple have all been in regulatory crosshairs as Washington, D.C. debates what to do about the power of Big Tech. Googles case is reportedly advancing rapidly, and will look at its dominance in areas including digital advertising. Washington is also worried about how Facebook grew so powerful through acquisitions of companies including Instagram, WhatsAppand, most recently,Giphy.

Next week, the public will get a sense of what lawmakers are after when CEOs of Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple appear before Congress.

Meanwhile, Facebook has been trying to distance itself from the Trump administration, after CEO Mark Zuckerbergs relationship with the president was thought to be too cozy. Axios spoke with Zuckerberg who shot down claims that Facebook has a secret handshake with Trump. The whole idea of a deal is pretty ridiculous, Zuckerberg said.

At the same time, Popular Information reports that Facebook policies seem unusually sympathetic to conservative causes. The online publication investigated an instance in which Facebook allowed a dubious report about climate science from the conservative Daily Wire to escape its normal fact-checking process.

Also, Politico reports that Democratic lawmakers asked the FBI for help protecting against foreign interference in the 2020 election, after social media was ground zero for outside influence operations in 2016.

Zuckerberg is doing his best to shield himself from all this heat, at least. The Facebook CEO was spotted in Hawaii over the weekend with a thick layer of sunscreen while out riding waves.

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Big Tech feels the heat from Washington and small agency leaders dish: Tuesday Wake-Up Call - AdAge.com

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