The House Judiciary Committee is opening an antitrust investigation into tech giants amid concerns that their unmatched market power is suppressing competition in digital markets.
The committee plans to asses the effectiveness of current antitrust laws in regulating tech companies. If lawmakers find current regulations to be inadequate, the investigation could lead the first remodel of U.S. antitrust laws in decades.
"There is growing evidence that a handful of gatekeepers have come to capture control over key arteries of online commerce, content, and communications," Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-NY, said in a statement Monday announcing the probe.
Representatives from both parties have expressed concerns over the rapid growth of big tech and the government's ability to regulate these companies. Massachusetts Senator and 2020 presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren, among the top of the Democratic pack for the nomination, has proposed legislation to break up major tech companies like Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Google.
The announcement of a congressional investigation comes just after reports that the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission are planning probes of the tech giants.
"Given the growing tide of concentration and consolidation across our economy, it is vital that we investigate the current state of competition in digital markets and the health of the antitrust laws," Nadler said.
WATCH: Is this the beginning of the end for big tech as we know it?
