Google and Microsoft are in trouble? Trump sends another signal: will never relax the antitrust crackdown on tech giants

The hard days for tech giants are coming.

On December 5th, Trump made it clear that after returning to the White House on January 20th, he will continue to pressure American tech giants over their monopolistic behaviors and will show no mercy.

On Wednesday, Trump announced he would nominate Gail Slater as the head of the Justice Department's antitrust division. Slater has served at the Federal Trade Commission for over a decade and is a senior aide to incoming Vice President David Vance, holding a radical stance against monopolistic practices.

According to top Wall Street traders who spoke to the media, Slater's nomination indicates that Trump's new administration will continue the tough enforcement stance advocated by the Biden administration, and tech giants including Google, Apple, Meta, and Amazon will continue to face a more stringent regulatory environment.

On the social platform Truth Social, Trump wrote:

"Big tech companies have run rampant for years, stifling the competitiveness of our most innovative industries. As we know, they use their market power to suppress the rights of countless Americans, even suppressing the rights of 'small tech companies'!"

Trump also added:

"I am proud of my fight against these abuses of power during my first term, and our Justice Department's antitrust team will continue this work under Gail's leadership."

However, for the tech giants, the bad news doesn't stop there— on November 17th, Trump nominated Brendan Carr as the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Days before Carr's nomination, he sent letters to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Apple CEO Tim Cook, and publicly shared copies of the letters on social platform X. In the letter, Carr stated:

"Once Trump is in office, we will take broad action to restore the rights of Americans under the First Amendment... This may include reviewing your company's activities as well as those of third-party organizations and groups aimed at undermining these rights."

Additionally, the antitrust laws in the United States are enforced jointly by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice, and currently, the chair of the Federal Trade Commission is Lina Khan, who has gained a good reputation for actively pushing lawsuits and investigations against large tech giants.

According to media reports, it is unclear whether Trump will seek to replace Lina Khan, who will take over, and it cannot be confirmed whether the successor will hold the same views as Lina Khan or continue her work.