US Antitrust Enforcers Signal Discord Over Probes of Big Tech

Bad blood between the the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department's antitrust division -- entities investigating the giants of the tech industry -- has grown more intense with the delivery of a letter from one agency to the other that might be considered the equivalent of a brushback pitch. Both agencies assert authority to investigate whether US companies are violating antitrust law by squeezing out competition. In the letter sent late the week of Sept 9 to the Justice Department, the FTC complained about the DOJ’s behavior and raised concerns about recent interactions between the two agencies, apparently. A turf battle over government scrutiny of Facebook is a key point of contention. The previously undisclosed letter, signed by FTC Chairman Joseph Simons, raises the prospect that a longstanding power-sharing agreement between the agencies is fraying. It is also raising broader concerns that the boiling tension could eventually derail the agencies’ focus on Big Tech—among the biggest and most significant undertakings that either of them has conducted in years.