Big Tech’s Uneasy Future

The White House today took its most aggressive step yet against large technology companies, naming anti-monopoly advocate Lina Khan to head the Federal Trade Commission. Whether the news will rattle tech companies—or their investors—remains to be seen.

Despite multiple antitrust lawsuits and investigations, and many hours of grandstanding by members of Congress, investors in the world’s most dominant technologies continue to be rewarded with record earnings. Last week, a slate of antitrust bills introduced by House lawmakers that would dramatically reshape the five companies were greeted by investors with a collective shrug.

And on Tuesday, tech stocks barely flinched at the news. But Khan’s arrival is likely to put Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft on the defensive in a way the past few years of heated anti-tech rhetoric have not.