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Antitrust 101: Why everyone is probing Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google

November 5, 2019

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Once upon a time, there was a phone company—or rather, the phone company. AT&T Corp., the venerable “Ma Bell,” provided nearly all telephone service to nearly all Americans for decades… until it didn’t. The company infamously broke up on New Year’s Day in 1984, splitting into the seven “Baby Bells,” regional carriers that could compete with other long-distance providers for consumer dollars.

The split wasn’t just for funsies. The baby Bells were the ultimate result of a settlement between AT&T and the Justice Department, the culmination of an antitrust case that began nearly a decade earlier. It was the first time the feds broke up a communications company for antitrust reasons—and 35 years later, it retains the dubious distinction of being the last.

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