DOJ Adds Antitrust Staff Amid Big Tech Probes

With probes of Alphabet’s Google and other major platforms underway, the US Justice Department’s Antitrust Division is hiring both to bulk up for the big tech probes and to replace people who left, according to Reuters. 

The Department is scheduled to post an advertisement for positions, for additional attorneys, paralegals with an interest in tech, and others to work in San Francisco to focus on the tech industry, one of the sources said. 

A job posting for five people for two-year Washington positions that dates from November specifies that the attorneys hired will work on a broad investigation of major digital technology firms into whether they engage in anticompetitive practices. 

Big tech companies like Facebook, Google, Amazon, and Apple face a slew of antitrust probes by the federal government, state attorneys general, and Congress. 

The number of people hired will depend on the caliber of the applicants, one of the sources said. “We have capacity to take on a good number of folks,” the source said. 

The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division assesses mergers to ensure they are legal, a job it shares with the Federal Trade Commission. It also investigates companies accused of price-fixing.

Full Content: Reuters

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