Tech Monopolies
A handful of technology companies — Google, Apple, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft — control essential infrastructure of modern life: how we search for information, how we communicate, how we shop, and how we consume news. This concentration of power is unprecedented and largely unregulated.
Gen Us covers tech monopolies because they shape information access in ways that directly affect every other issue we cover. When Google controls 90% of search, its algorithm decisions determine what information people find. When Meta controls the primary social platforms, its content moderation policies function as de facto speech regulation.
We analyze antitrust actions and their outcomes, document how algorithm changes affect news distribution, trace tech company lobbying on regulation, and investigate how Big Tech's market dominance enables data practices that would be impossible in a competitive market.
Key Questions We're Asking
- •How do Big Tech algorithms determine what information users see, and who decides the ranking criteria?
- •What is the current status of antitrust actions against Google, Apple, Amazon, and Meta?
- •How much do tech companies spend on lobbying, and what specific regulations are they trying to prevent?
- •How does platform dominance in advertising affect the financial viability of independent journalism?
- •What data do tech companies collect, and how does market dominance enable data practices that users cannot meaningfully avoid?
What Mainstream Media Misses
- •Tech company lobbying is reported as individual stories but rarely framed as a systematic effort to prevent regulation of an entire industry.
- •Algorithm changes that devastate news publisher traffic are covered as business stories, not as democracy stories about information access.
- •The advertising duopoly of Google and Meta — which captures over 50% of digital ad spending — is the primary cause of local news collapse, but this connection is rarely made explicit.
- •Media outlets that depend on tech platforms for distribution have inherent conflicts in covering those platforms critically.
Follow the Money
- •Big Tech companies collectively spend over $70 million annually on federal lobbying.
- •Google and Meta capture over 50% of all digital advertising revenue, diverting money from news publishers.
- •Apple, Google, Amazon, and Meta have combined market capitalizations exceeding $10 trillion.
- •Tech companies fund think tanks, academic research, and policy organizations that advocate against regulation.