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Silicon Valley is on the edge of his seat. President Donald Trump announced that his government is seriously considering an antitrust investigation into Amazon, Facebook and Google. According to Trump, the three tech companies have a monopoly position, which is why a study may be carried out.

At least Trump hinted at that during an interview with Axios. He started his story with the remark that the three tech companies are great, but then came up with statements that indicate that there might be an investigation. Regulation for the three tech giants could also be an option. However, Trump did not give definitive answers.

Splitting up the companies?

I leave it to others, but I hear a lot of people talk about monopoly when they talk about those three companies, says Trump. We are looking very seriously at antitrust. According to Trump, this does not mean that there really is an investigation, but it does mean that it is definitely being considered.

When asked, Trump did not want to give a definitive answer to the question of whether his government would split up the companies. That’s what they talked about for years. And also on the same subject, namely whether they have a monopoly long before I became president. A lot of people thought it would happen, but I think the previous government stopped it, Trump said.

Changing message

At the end of the day there is rarely a rope to tie to Trump’s words. For example, the US President accused Google of having modified its search engine against certain political views.

When the European Union fined Google EUR 4.3 billion, however, he was not happy either. According to Trump, the EU took advantage of the United States. So at that moment he was firmly on the side of the tech company. When Axios asked, Trump said he could not appreciate it because the EU fined an American company. I don’t think it’s right for them to do that. If there’s anyone who should be doing this, it’s us.

This news article was automatically translated from Dutch to give Techzine.eu a head start. All news articles after September 1, 2019 are written in native English and NOT translated. All our background stories are written in native English as well. For more information read our launch article.