John Oliver Shows Why Tech Monopolies' 'Anti-Competitive' Nature Is Nothing New

John Oliver tackled tech monopolies and the damage they can create on “Last Week Tonight” Sunday.

At the start of his segment, Oliver pointed to the 450-page report released in 2020  by the House judiciary subcommittee on antitrust, commercial and administrative law that revealed “anti-competitive conduct” by the likes of Amazon , Apple, Google and Facebook . But this “anti-competitive” behavior is nothing new.

Oliver then discussed the U.S. government’s actions against AT&T for its anti-competitive nature 40 years ago.

For example, when MCI – “a much smaller company” at the time – attempted to offer long-distance phone services at a lower rate, AT&T wasn’t a fan. Oliver played a clip explaining the battle between the two telecoms, including the revelation of meeting notes from AT&T that revealed the company’s plans to “choke them up before they get started.”

“Obviously, fuck AT&T now and forever,” Oliver said.

Watch the segment as it dips into modern examples of tech monopolies’ behavior below: