Why Matt Gaetzs AG nomination could be bad news for Google, other Big Tech monopolies

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.Gaetz’s 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 exp...