U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), a vocal critic of big tech, said the antitrust lawsuit filed on Tuesday by the Department of Justice against Google has the potential to become the biggest strike against monopoly power since the Microsoft case settled in 2001.
"This new case will be the most significant antitrust case in a generation and certainly since the Microsoft case, and I think it has the potential to be bigger than the Microsoft case because Google is a more powerful platform, a more powerful company than Microsoft was," Hawley told Cheddar's J.D. Durkin on Tuesday.
He agrees with critics of the Microsoft case that it should have gone further, but maintains that it still helped spur the startup boom of the early 2000s.
"People often say, well, it really wasn't that successful, but actually if you look at the surge in tech startups that occurred during and immediately after the Microsoft case, I think you can see that taking on Microsoft had a significant pro-competition, pro-innovation effect," he said.
The senator also stressed that this is a critical moment for antitrust law in the U.S.
"Let's just be honest here, the stakes are high for the Department of Justice," he said. "They need to prosecute this case to the fullest extent of their abilities, and they need to get a win. They need to show that antitrust law still has an important part to play in the 21st century economy, and I believe they'll do that."
The Florida Board of Education has approved a ban on classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in all grades.
The Supreme Court is deciding whether women will face restrictions in getting a drug used in the most common method of abortion in the U.S. while a lawsuit continues.
New supervisors leading Disney World’s revamped governing body say they had good intentions about collaborating with the company after they were appointed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Tuesday that contains more than 50 directives to increase access to child care and improve the work life of caregivers.
Supreme Court justices seemed in broad agreement that businesses can’t cite minor costs or hardships to reject requests from workers who need schedule or other accommodations because of their religious practices.
Fox and Dominion Voting Systems have reached a $787 million settlement in the voting machine company’s defamation lawsuit.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy pledged Monday to pass legislation to raise the nation's debt ceiling — but only on condition of capping future federal spending increases at 1% — as he lashed out at President Joe Biden for refusing to engage in budget-cutting negotiations to prevent a debt crisis.
U.S. Rep. George Santos, the New York Republican whose lies about his background and wealth helped propel him into office, announced Monday that he's running for reelection.
Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida lawmakers are ratcheting up pressure on Walt Disney World.
Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday urged Americans to take action during “a critical point in our nation’s history” as thousands of protesters demonstrated across the country against new limits to abortion rights making their way through the courts.
