Welcome to the Big Tech Stack, Accountable Tech’s newsletter. We’ll give you the TL;DR (“too long, didn’t read”) on the latest news in Big Tech with our POV. This edition is all about trust (or lack thereof).

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Justice Dept. asks judge to ‘thaw’ Google’s search monopoly by forcing Chrome sale

TL;DR: A federal judge found that Google illegally maintained a monopoly over internet search, effectively “crush[ing] competition.” They dominated the industry by paying to be the default browser on your devices,” and now a federal judge will decide whether Google has to divest from Chrome or Android.

AT’s POV: This is a big deal. And, this isn’t the only major antitrust case Google is facing right now – another federal judge recently ruled that Google’s ad technology is a monopoly: They control and profit from the entire ad tech environment – both the publisher and the ad space itself. The remedies for both of these cases could lead to a major breakup for Big Tech.

Mark Zuckerberg considered an Instagram spin-off amid 'calls to break up' Big Tech

TL;DR: Meta and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg are on trial for the acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp in their own antitrust case. The FTC alleges the company used these purchases to dominate the social media landscape. In a 2018 internal email, Zuck questions whether Meta should sell off Instagram, because, as he said, “there is a non-trivial chance that we will be forced to spin out Instagram and perhaps WhatsApp in the next 5-10 years anyway."

AT’s POV: It’s like… he knew that buying out the competition would constitute his business as an illegal monopoly… and did it anyway. While it’ll be tougher for the FTC to prove that Facebook and Instagram technically operated in the same social media space to be considered a monopoly, this case could lead to another Big Tech breakup.

Teens don’t trust Big Tech to protect them

TL;DR: A report found that a majority of teens don’t trust Big Tech. They don’t think Big Tech monopolies care about their mental health or protecting their privacy.

AT’s POV: We don’t blame them! Big Tech’s been fighting tooth and nail against Kids Code laws that would require safer designs, all while claiming their platforms are safe despite ample proof to the contrary. Meta accidentally served extremely violent content to kids after removing content moderation, which continued even after they claimed to fix the issue. It’s no wonder young people don’t trust Big Tech – and it’s why we won’t stop fighting to hold Big Tech accountable.

That’s all for this installment of the Big Tech Stack. If you liked what you saw, consider donating to keep this in your inbox. Thanks for your support in holding Big Tech accountable.