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Tech Giants Face Scrutiny on Antitrust, Content, and Immigration Enforcement
Washington, D.C. – Several major technology companies and related government actions were under scrutiny this week, ranging from antitrust concerns to content moderation and immigration enforcement.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a cross-appeal in its antitrust case against Google on Tuesday, according to a post on X by the DOJ Antitrust Division. This followed Google's own appeal filed last month in the case. The DOJ's initial lawsuit alleged Google held an illegal monopoly over the search market.
Meanwhile, Netflix faced questioning from Republican senators regarding its content. On February 4, 2026, Republicans hauled Netflix before Congress for being too “woke,” according to The Verge. One Republican senator accused Netflix of creating the "wokest content in the history of the world." During a Senate hearing, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos addressed concerns about a potential merger with Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), specifically regarding potential price increases for consumers. Sarandos suggested the merger would not necessarily lead to higher prices and implied that users could cancel their service if it became too expensive, according to Ars Technica. He aimed to convince the US Senate Judiciary Committees Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights that the merger would not harm competition. The subcommittee hearing was titled, "Examining the Competitive Impact of the Proposed Netflix-Warner Brothers Transaction."
In Europe, X's Paris office was raided by French law enforcement authorities, and Elon Musk was summoned for questioning as part of an investigation into illegal content, Ars Technica reported. The Paris public prosecutors office stated the yearlong probe was recently expanded because the Grok chatbot was disseminating Holocaust-denial claims and sexually explicit deepfakes. Europol is assisting French authorities in the investigation, which concerns a range of suspected criminal offenses linked to the functioning and use of the platform, including the dissemination of illegal content and other forms of online criminal activity. Europol's cybercrime center provided an analyst on the ground.
Separately, in Minnesota, the fatal shooting of 37-year-old intensive care nurse Alex Pretti by federal agents on January 24 has brought scrutiny to the paramilitary tactics of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) units, Wired reported. The deployment in Minnesota, as well as clashes in Southern California and Illinois, involved hundreds of agents operating within ICE's Special Response Teams (SRT), CBP's SRT, and the Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC). These units are described as behaving like special operations forces rather than local police.
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