In the most recent episode of his late night news show “Last Week Tonight,” Oliver uses the history of AT&T as a jumping off point for a segment on antitrust legislation, in which he makes the point that monopolies are bad for business and customers.
The segment begins with a brief history of AT&T, which Oliver explains once had a monopoly over the telephone industry, and would go out of its way to hinder competing businesses.
But once AT&T was broken up in the 1980s, Oliver points out prices dropped, service improved and the telecommunications industry began to innovate new products like answering machines and modems, and internet service became faster and more accessible to the general public.
Essentially, Oliver posits, if AT&T hadn’t been broken up, the internet as we know it wouldn’t exist. And now a current system of monopoly is keeping the internet from reaching its full potential.
From there, Oliver moved on to the current day. He made the case (and is far from the first person to make this statement) that the internet is currently controlled by the four biggest technology firms on the planet: Apple , Alphabet, Meta and Amazon.
Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletter for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.
