Big Tech Faces Big Scrutiny: FTC Looking Into Facebook, Federal Reserve Pays Amazon A Visit

Big tech faces new scrutiny from regulatory and government bodies as the Federal Trade Commission is taking a close look at Facebook, Inc. FB's acquisition history. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve reportedly paid Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN a visit to examine its cloud business.

Facebook's Acquisition History

The FTC initiated an antitrust investigation to explore if Facebook bought potential social media rivals to avoid future competition, sources told The Wall Street Journal. The regulatory body is even looking to interview founders of some or all of the 90 companies the social media giant acquired over the past 15 years.

The FTC likely has Instagram and WhatsApp executives on its list of people to contact, sources told WSJ.

Facebook did confirm in its recent second-quarter report it's the subject of an FTC investigation but offered no details.

Facebook director of public policy Matt Perault argued in front of a House antitrust subcommittee in July the companies it acquired were given "more opportunity to innovate as part of Facebook than they would have had on their own."

The Fed Targets Amazon

Wall Street Journal separately reported sources are saying the Federal Reserve initiated an examination into Amazon's AWS business, which expanded over the years to store sensitive banking information, including databases that store credit scores and social security numbers.

The Fed reportedly visited Amazon back in April and were "greeted warily," sources told WSJ. Government officials were allowed to review certain data and were interested in Amazon's resiliency and backup systems. At first glance, the Fed probing Amazon may seem confusing but Amazon's cloud business is a vital entity in the banking system whether Amazon wants to be or not.

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