Justice Department Sues Google, Big Tech’s White House Ties, TCPA Compliance Deadline

January 24, 2023 — The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google, accusing the company of abusing a monopoly over the technology that controls the digital advertising market.

Google operates much of the technology used to sell, purchase and serve online advertisements, and the lawsuit claims the company attempted to control all sides of the market in order to “set the rules of the game to exclude rivals,” CNBC reported.

However, Google’s share of digital ad revenues has dropped over the last few years, and the company has pointed to major industry players like Amazon and Meta to demonstrate its claims that the market is crowded and competitive.

A separate lawsuit based on Google’s alleged monopoly in the internet search market, brought by the government in 2020, is set to go to trial in September. Several state attorneys general have brought additional lawsuits against the tech giant, focusing on Google’s app marketplace challenges as well as advertising and search.

Expected White House pick has ties to Big Tech

President Joe Biden is expected to name former Facebook board member Jeff Zients as his next chief of staff, The Washington Post reported on Sunday.

The decision has been criticized by progressive groups, who have raised concerns over Zients’ potential impact on ongoing efforts to curb the power of major tech companies and pass antitrust legislation.

David Segal, founder of internet advocacy organization Demand Progress, told the Post that he had “serious concerns” about Zients’s positions on tech issues, citing “a history of worrisome financial interests, membership on Facebook’s board and policy decisions.”

Advocacy groups have previously expressed concerns about a discrepancy between the administration’s stated agenda against Big Tech and the backgrounds of its staff —  including Louisa Terrell, Biden’s director of legislative affairs, who served for two years as Facebook’s public policy director.

Adding to these concerns is the fact that Zients’ expected promotion comes just weeks after former White House advisor Tim Wu, known as an aggressive critic of Big Tech, stepped down from his role in the administration.

FCC announces July 20 compliance deadline for TCPA updates

The Federal Communications Commission on Monday announced a compliance deadline of July 20 for amendments to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act related to prerecorded calls.

The new rules, which were initially announced in December 2020, add opt-out requirements and call limits for calls that previously relied on TCPA exemptions. These include non-commercial calls, commercial calls that do not constitute telemarketing, calls from nonprofit entities and calls related to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

The updates come alongside a variety of efforts from the FCC aimed at stopping robocall traffic, as well as spam text messages and automatic voicemails.