How Big Tech armed and prepared itself to push back US antitrust onslaught

As news of the federal and congressional probes roiled the companies’ shares this week, lawyers and executives working for Amazon, Facebook and Google were taking a wait-and-see approach

Investors were caught off guard by the sudden US assault on tech giants this week, but behind the scenes, the industry’s biggest firms have been preparing for this moment of reckoning for months.

They’ve hired lawyers and built up their lobbying shops in response to antitrust investigations that have been well under way in the European Union, and which are just now getting started in Washington.

Amazon, Google, Apple and Facebook all have been working publicly and behind the scenes for months to make their cases for why they help competition, rather than harm it, and already have formidable teams in place.

As news of the federal and congressional probes roiled the companies’ shares this week, lawyers and executives working for Amazon, Facebook and Google were taking a wait-and-see approach, according to people familiar with the situation.

Google hasn’t discussed with the justice department, which is set to investigate the company, details about what antitrust officials will focus on, one of the people said. The search giant, for its part, has in the past faced intense antitrust challenges in the US and elsewhere, and already has a playbook for dealing with them.

Representatives of the firms have pointed fingers at each other as being the fattest targets for the government, even after news of the probes broke.

Spokespeople for Google, Amazon and Facebook declined to comment. Apple didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

The government agencies themselves haven’t said what they intend to look at. Still, the move toward formal investigations is a clear escalation from the political rhetoric of the past year. “US President Donald Trump’s pretty clearly made some comments about this,’’ said Rob Atkinson, president of the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, a think-tank that lobbies against excessive tech regulation. “Over the next 18 months you’re going to see FTC and DOJ certainly be making a lot more noise.”

The firms have been staffing their in-house legal teams with numerous antitrust lawyers who served in government. Google, Amazon and Facebook set company records for lobbying spending in 2018 as scrutiny of Big Tech intensified, according to Senate disclosures. They were already coming under pressure for issues including Russian campaign meddling, data breaches, efforts to draft a tough privacy law and to make tech companies responsible for the content disseminated by their services.

Amazon has worked mostly behind the scenes in an effort to contain the antitrust conversation, according to two people. Amazon has opted against engaging in public Twitter spats and its representatives visit lawmakers individually, often bringing small-business owners from that legislator’s state or district to speak about how Amazon is helping them grow. At a conference in Las Vegas, Amazon’s retail chief disputed the idea that it unfairly competes with independent merchants by pointing out that its business selling private-label goods is much smaller than those of major rivals.

Google and Facebook also said they help small businesses compete. In conference calls and marketing materials, executives from the firms routinely explain how their products are affordable tools meant to help mom-and-pops find and advertise to a broad range of people.

Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg has argued that breaking up tech companies wouldn’t address the underlying issues people have with technology, such as the spread of fake news or concerns about cybersecurity. She also warned that the US shouldn’t break up its home-grown tech leaders, because it could give China an advantage in the race for tech dominance.

“While people are concerned with the size and power of tech companies, there is also a concern in the US about the size and power of Chinese tech companies,’’ Sandberg said. “Those companies are not going to be broken up.’