Washington, DC

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During lockdown, Keith Ingram shifted sales to Amazon

"We would not have survived without the Amazon ," said Keith Ingram , owner of the vinyl records shop Assai Records.

When the lockdown hit on the 23. March in the UK, Mr Ingram had closed his shops in Edinburgh and Dundee, and its shares sold on Amazon Marketplace . Now its turnover is around 40% higher than Last Year .

"Without Amazon , we'd have a holiday, all the staff for all of lockdown. Instead, we furloughed them for four weeks, until we adjusted to the new normal, and we could then train them to help the staff to us, fulfill our online orders," he says.

It's not just Amazon that was used during the pandemic. Apple and Android smartphones and tablets, Facebook apps, and tools available from Microsoft critical connections With Friends , family and colleagues.

And of course that is great for the investors, and the billionaires behind these companies. Shares of Facebook, Apple, Amazon and Microsoft, all hit all-time highs on the stock exchanges in June.

Between the 18. March and 19 May , Amazon 's Jeff Bezos saw his wealth swell from $34. 6bn (£27. 6bn) and Facebook 's Mark Zuckerberg ' wealth rose from $25bn (£19. 9bn),

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has seen his wealth swell during the pandemic

But rely on the Great Tech from the rudder?

"Amazon , have come from the dominant gatekeeper for online trading is the dominant gatekeeper for a lot of retail, because of the lock," says Stacy Mitchell, co-Director of The Institute for Local Self-Reliance, the U.S. organization that challenges concentrated economic and political power.

in the Meantime, This Week , that it is a coronavirus-the tracing app is based on technology from Apple and Google.

Germany, Italy and Denmark, among other countries, also with this system.

Big Tech companies have still greater during the pandemic, and your success means that you have sufficient funds to engage in other enterprises.

For example, to buy in May - a plan, a 10% share in India's Jio, a telecommunications and digital services business.

"All of them will play in the M&A [mergers and acquisitions], if you don't already. Start-ups are more likely to sell to, during the pandemic, when you have to fight, in order to meet their obligations, and the buyout looks especially pretty - the pandemic is the acceleration of the buy-Out date Sandeep Vaheesan, legal director at The Open Markets Institute, a think-tank says in some cases," that the studies, due to the concentration of companies.

Prior to the pandemic, it had the control of Large Tech. The U.S. House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee requests for information sent to Amazon , Apple, Google, owner of the Alphabet, and Facebook in September 2019, with the government concerned that only a small number of companies, such a large share of the digital market.

Coronavirus can delay this investigation, But They will still be carried Out .

Tech buy-Outs accelerated, during the pandemic, says Sandeep Vaheesan

"Those who focused on cartel companies to renew their attention to the large tech, to want to because we go in an election year [in the USA] and both parties 'attention, to regulate their efforts to do business", says Jonathan Osborne, a lawyer of Globalaw Law Firm Gunster.

Mr. Vaheesan warns that in the United States, The Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), not the acquisition of companies seriously Enough , clearing the acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp by Facebook and YouTube, and Google's Android.

He is not optimistic that the DoJ and the FTC will change its approach in The Future .

In the UK, Amazon 's multi-million pound investment in Deliveroo, it was provisionally competition chiefs deactivated, because the take-away courier said it would collapse if it was blocked. A final decision is expected to be on 6. August.

"That was a one-off, The Competition and markets authority (CMA) saw The Market and saw that They have not changed, because the pandemic, But the pandemic is not a reason for the Big Tech companies get away with control - Absolutely Not ," says Jonathan Branton, head of The Competition in the Law Firm DWF.

The ASV has, since the Facebook takeover of Giphy, the popular owner of a library of short animations and stickers in Social Media .

But the current level of testing is Enough , and it will change, because of the pandemic?

"It's hard to see in a Crystal Ball . I think Microsoft has a strong stance on trust, security and ethical use of AI, and while we have more on reaction to The Crisis in the short term, we still maintain, and apply these principles and also apply in The Future . It is then about how The Public , industry and government to consider the use of Big-Tech in The Market ," says Microsoft Azure business Michael Wignall lead.

Mr. Vaheesan suggests that these important investigations, tech companies appear to be May not be what you.

"It is too early to say whether these are serious inquiries, or if you just a window-dressing in response to public and political concerns about The Power of the five big tech companies. "

President Trump threatened to introduce more regulation of Social Media

In the US, the picture is still further complicated by President Trump the tense relationship with Twitter.

In May for the First Time The President tweets.

That threatens you will be prompted with The President "strongly regulate" or "close down" Social Media companies.

Facebook has also removed Under Pressure , the comments by The President ,

hundreds of lobbyists working To help to protect their interests, the Major Tech companies have in Washington .

"When I meet with elected representatives in Washington Dc , They are deprived of almost a little that it can write more lobbyists as employees to legislation," says Scott Galloway , professor of marketing at NYU Stern.

"The budget of the DoJ and the FTC each year were cut, so that, although it is more of the anti-trust action with a change in the White house, the question of whether the US government even has the resources," says Mr Galloway .

Washington is filled with Big Tech lobbyists, says Scott Galloway

Mr. Galloway also believes that Europe should take on more of the leadership, the on tougher sanctions against the Big Tech than in the US.

"Europe gets all of the downside of big tech. But you get very little from the top. In the United States, these enormous economic engines, the a lot of work and a source of Pride - They create the ecosystem of other successful companies around you," he says.

The European Commission announced two new antitrust investigation, Apple's proposed This Week , while a recent Wall Street Journal report that Amazon could be the next on the EU agenda, on the treatment of third-party providers.

"It begs the question: why are we so dependent on a handful of large companies? We would actually lose anything, as A Society , if we have several online market places were? There really is nothing that forces us to accept the existing structure of these markets," says Mr. Vaheesan.

Big tech May be getting stronger, during the pandemic, But it will actually make things harder for you in the long term can.

Amazon , Facebook, Apple, and Alphabet were asked for a response, But declined to comment.

facebook, google, coronavirus pandemic, amazon, microsoft

Source of news: bbc.com