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Trump’s DOJ Pick Says Resources Key in Big Tech Antitrust Cases

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Gail Slater, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Department of Justice’s antitrust division, told a Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday that resource availability would be a critical factor in pursuing high-profile cases against Big Tech.

Slater, an experienced antitrust lawyer and economic adviser to Vice President JD Vance, would oversee cases targeting monopolistic practices if confirmed as the DOJ’s assistant attorney general for antitrust.

Senator Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah and head of the antitrust subcommittee, questioned Slater about her stance on ongoing litigation against Apple, Google, and other tech giants—cases initiated during Trump’s first term and carried over into the Biden administration.

Slater acknowledged the complexities and high costs of such lawsuits. “Resources are of course a very important consideration in antitrust litigation, in taking cases further. It is very complex civil litigation and costly, so that will be a consideration,” she said. She also pledged to advocate for sufficient resources to continue enforcement.

The DOJ is actively suing Google for its dominance in online advertising markets and recently won a case confirming Google’s illegal monopoly in online search. Additionally, the DOJ and state attorneys general have accused companies like Apple, LiveNation, and Visa of anticompetitive practices.

Slater expressed her commitment to collaborating with state attorneys general from both parties on these cases.

Senator Cory Booker, the ranking Democrat on the Senate’s antitrust committee, voiced concerns about how efforts by Tesla CEO and Trump adviser Elon Musk to downsize the federal workforce could hinder the DOJ’s antitrust enforcement. “Any efforts by Musk and Trump to fire or push out federal employees charged with enforcing our antitrust laws will hurt Americans at a time when families are struggling,” Booker said.

Slater’s background includes positions at Fox Corp and Roku, as well as representing major tech firms at the now-defunct Internet Association. She began her career at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and spent a decade at the Federal Trade Commission.

FTC Appoints Former Heritage Foundation Tech Policy Expert as Chief Technology Officer

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The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has appointed Jake Denton, a former tech policy researcher from the conservative Heritage Foundation, as its new chief technology officer. Denton, who graduated from American University in 2021, shared the news of his appointment on X on Monday. He replaces Stephanie Nguyen, who served in the role since 2022 under former FTC Chair Lina Khan.

The FTC introduced the role of chief technologist during the Obama administration to offer guidance on emerging technology policy issues, with a focus on digital markets, competition, and consumer protection. Denton’s appointment comes as Andrew Ferguson begins his tenure as the new chairman of the FTC. Ferguson has voiced concerns about the dominance of Big Tech companies but has also cautioned against over-regulating the tech industry in a way that might hinder U.S. innovation.

Denton has previously expressed his views on artificial intelligence (AI) policy, calling for Congress to pass AI legislation in a Fox News interview in July 2023. In an opinion piece co-authored with Kara Frederick, the Heritage Foundation’s tech policy director, Denton emphasized the need for the U.S. and its allies to take a leading role in setting international AI standards. They warned that if democracies don’t write the rules for emerging technologies like AI, authoritarian regimes may take the lead in shaping them.

Before joining the Heritage Foundation, Denton interned in Congress and completed a fellowship with the Federalist Society. His appointment signals the FTC’s continued focus on regulating emerging technologies like AI and digital markets, areas where the agency has launched investigations in the past under Chair Khan, particularly into AI partnerships such as Microsoft’s and OpenAI’s collaboration.

It remains to be seen whether Ferguson, along with Denton, will continue investigations into Big Tech, including ongoing probes into Microsoft and OpenAI’s potentially anticompetitive conduct and whether OpenAI violated consumer protection laws. The FTC is also preparing for a high-profile trial in April over Meta Platforms’ acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, and continues to pursue legal action against Amazon over alleged anti-competitive practices.

Alphabet Shares Drop Amid Cloud Growth Concerns and Rising AI Spending

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Alphabet’s stock dropped by 8% on Wednesday, driven by investor concerns over the company’s slowing cloud growth and planned capital expenditures of $75 billion for the year. This marks a significant shift for the Google parent, highlighting fears surrounding the escalating costs of artificial intelligence (AI) development.

The company’s quarterly cloud revenue grew by 30%, slower than the 35% increase seen in the previous quarter, and missed market expectations. This decline mirrors challenges faced by its larger cloud rival, Microsoft. Analysts have indicated that these results mark a shift in Google’s business model, moving from its capital-light, high-margin search advertising business to a more capital-intensive, AI-driven approach.

The projected increase in capital expenditures (CapEx) for 2025 is 29% higher than analysts’ estimates. Alphabet has indicated that it will prioritize costly AI investments to avoid falling behind competitors, a strategy that has raised concerns among investors looking for a clearer path to AI-driven profits. Analysts such as Gil Luria from D.A. Davidson expressed worry that Alphabet might be heading down the same path as Microsoft, facing the challenges of high AI costs without immediate returns.

Alphabet’s concerns were further compounded by the rise of China’s DeepSeek, a low-cost AI model that has spurred debate about the high expenses of AI development by Big Tech companies. Despite better-than-expected ad revenue performance, the heightened CapEx and cloud struggles have overshadowed the positive results.

Analysts have responded to the concerns by cutting their price targets on Alphabet’s stock, with some expressing doubts about the company’s ability to capture a significant share of the cloud market. Alphabet’s shares remain the cheapest among the major U.S. cloud providers, with a 12-month forward price-to-earnings ratio of 22.7, lower than Amazon’s and Microsoft’s ratios.