Donald Trump’s nomination of Matt Gaetz to serve as US attorney general could spell trouble for Google and other Big Tech giants accused of maintaining monopolies.
Confirmation of the ex-GOP congressman as the nation’s top law enforcer is far from a sure thing. The president-elect’s nomination of Gaetz — who faced a House Ethics Committee probe on allegations of sexual misconduct and drug use — is said to have shocked many Republican lawmakers.
If confirmed, however, Gaetz would have major influence over the DOJ’s handling of pending antitrust cases against the likes of Google, led by CEO Sundar Pichai, and Apple, led by Tim Cook.
Gaetz, 42, is considered one of the GOP’s most hawkish lawmakers on antitrust matters. A vocal critic of Google in particular, Gaetz has called repeatedly over the years to break up Big Tech firms – once referring to them in 2021 as “the internet’s hall monitors” who engaged in censorship and suppression of conservative views.
“Gaetz as AG means Trump’s second term will see continued and seamless aggressive antitrust enforcement against Big Tech firms which began in Trump’s first term and continued through Biden,” one tech policy insider told The Post. “It’s great news for little tech, but bad news for Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai.”
Trump has recently expressed some reluctance to break up Google – arguing that doing so would benefit China. However, he remains a major critic of the company and has said he would “do something” to make sure Google is “more fair.”
A Gaetz-led DOJ could still pursue aggressive behavioral remedies against Google that would upend its business model without demanding a forced breakup, according to Brendan Benedict, an antitrust litigator at Benedict Law Group.
Most of the proposed remedies recently outlined by the DOJ in the Google search case are focused on changing business practices rather than slicing off parts of the company itself, Benedict added.
“I would expect the Trump DOJ and the FTC to be a little easier on merger review and to change policy as it relates to clearing mergers,” Benedict said. “But I think the enforcement actions against Big Tech –and Google in particular – are going to continue.”
During a House Judiciary Committee hearing last November, Gaetz praised Justice Department antitrust chief Jonathan Kanter – a Biden appointee – for bringing a pair of major antitrust lawsuits against Google.
“I think you’re doing a good job and that is a painful admission for me to have to make about anyone that works at the Department of Justice – an entity that I believe has been victimized by political capture,” Gaetz said during the hearing.
Gaetz added that he was “perhaps just as concerned about the monopoly power of Google” and referred to “powerful monopolies that get to define the nature of truth itself” as “a threat to the republic.”
A federal judge ruled in August that Google has an illegal monopoly over online search and is set to decide on potential remedies next summer, well into Trump’s term in office.
A second Justice Department case targeting Google’s alleged monopoly over digital advertising technology is scheduled to hold closing arguments later this year. The DOJ’s case against Apple, which is focused on the company’s alleged efforts to ensure the iPhone’s dominance over the smartphone market, has yet to proceed to trial.
In August, Gaetz and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) sent a letter to Pichai warning the company to comply with any court ruling related to its illegal monopoly over online search.
“If we observe any effort by Google to evade a court-imposed remedy, we will be vigilant to pursue any and all solutions necessary to hold your company accountable,” the letter said.
Gaetz also supported efforts by former Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) and former Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) to pass a highly-publicized bipartisan package of six antitrust bills last Congress.
The Florida Republican is a self-described “Khanservative” – or one of a handful of GOP lawmakers who has praised the likely outgoing FTC chair’s aggressive enforcement tact at the agency. At one point, Gaetz interviewed Khan on his Newsmax show.
“I would hope that whoever is the next FTC chair would continue many of the cases that Chair Khan has brought against predatory businesses,” Gaetz told the Wall Street Journal last month.
Khan is expected to depart from the office in January after Trump’s inauguration. Her term as FTC chair formally expired in September.
Earlier this year, Gaetz filed a legal brief backing the FTC’s ban on businesses requiring employees to sign noncompete agreements.
He has also teamed with Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on a measure blocking lawmakers from owning stocks.
On Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson said Gaetz had resigned to Congress “effective immediately” following his nomination.