Tech regulators put to the test

The backlash against giant tech companies is stressing the public institutions tasked with examining their power, as participants, observers and critics question whether regulators have the skill, will and authority to check corporate forces. The machinery of antitrust regulation will process the broader conversation about tech's role in society through the mill of American politics and law — and some wonder whether it's up to the task.

The Federal Trade Commission’s investigations into alleged privacy violations at Facebook and YouTube have raised questions about whether it has the authority it needs to police privacy in the era of aggressive online data collection. Some legislators and observers criticized the FTC’s proposed settlement with Facebook in July for multiple consumer privacy issues as weak, given the scale of Facebook’s revenues. Broad reviews at the FTC and Dept of Justice of the market power of major tech platforms like Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple may put to the test the agencies’ ability to rein in alleged monopolies using decades-old legal doctrine and century-old laws. The DOJ’s decision to approve T-Mobile’s merger with Sprint, as long as Dish created a fourth-major wireless carrier, was seen by critics as inadequate to protect competition in the wireless sector.