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Sessions threatens Big Tech action

Photo: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call

Attorney General Jeff Sessions will meet with state attorneys general this month "to discuss a growing concern that these companies may be hurting competition and intentionally stifling the free exchange of ideas on their platforms," Axios' David McCabe reports.

Why it matters: The unexpected Justice Department statement raises the prospect of antitrust action against the companies.

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The alarm about competition follows rising Republican allegations of online censorship, which President Trump has started hammering.

  • "This is an enormous assertion of investigatory powers, in a highly charged political environment," said Public Knowledge’s Gene Kimmelman, who served in the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division under Obama.

A new Axios/SurveyMonkey poll finds significant public distrust of search engines, with two-thirds of Republicans believing results skew left:

Data: SurveyMonkey online poll conducted Aug. 30 to Sept. 3, 2018 among a total sample of 2,698. Margin of error of ±2.5 percentage points; Poll methodology; Chart: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios

P.S. Wall Street Journal p. 1: "Antitrust enforcers are preparing to give the green light to two major deals in the health-care industry, CVS Health’s planned acquisition of health insurer Aetna and Cigna’s planned purchase of Express Scripts."

Big Tech backlash