Google’s $2.8 billion EU antitrust fine is the latest in a wave of action against Big Tech: The search giant and other major tech firms face criticism across the globe for anti-competitive search practices, and new regulation could forever change their hold on digital markets.

The company could reveal a new overarching brand name as soon as next week and follow in the footsteps of Alphabet.

It was supposed to be a “hot vax summer” in the US, but instead we got a hot antitrust reform summer. The Biden administration, along with the Democratic-led Congress, has put into play a mix of proposed legislation, lawsuits, executive orders, and appointments to address Big Tech's outsized, consolidated power.

On today's episode, we discuss what Google delaying getting rid of third-party cookies means for everyone, whether people will want to listen to audio on Facebook, what to make of TikTok's new mini apps called Jumps, Google's EU ad tech antitrust case, if moviegoing is making a return, what if time didn't exist, and more. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer senior analysts Audrey Schomer and Sara M. Watson and analyst at Insider Intelligence Nina Goetzen.

Amazon's antitrust debut: DC's lawsuit marks the company's first formal complaint by the US government—but with several probes ongoing and with Amazon continuing its rapid expansion, more suits are certain to come soon.

Taking the witness stand, Tim “Not a Gamer” Cook showed off his evasive moves dodging questions about App Store profitability. Apple’s Epic battle may wrap up soon, but Big Tech’s antitrust wars have just begun.

While both sides can claim partial victory, Apple is the bigger winner: It now has a court ruling that it doesn’t run a monopoly—this could influence the antitrust battles it faces on various fronts.

Antitrust: Competitors and regulators are building the case that Amazon unfairly gleans insights from its clients’ cloud data. In contrast, Microsoft has said it won’t compete with its cloud customers. AWS clients are becoming wary of vendor lock-in and exposing their mission critical operations.

In November, Alibaba’s IPO—slated to raise more than $34 billion—was suspended by authorities, which may have been a direct result of heightened antitrust scrutiny. The next month, Chinese finance regulators created a five-point compliance agenda for Ant Group. It included reverting the firm’s focus to payments and making transactions more transparent, which is what may be taking place now.

Apple is settling an antitrust case allowing developers for more app price points, and ostensibly allows them to communicate directly with users about alternative purchase options. The settlement is seen as a minor capitulation benefitting US-based developers earning less than $1M a year. US senators introduced a bill this month to curb anticompetitive app store policies.

South Korea's new laws make changes to Apple and Google app stores near inevitable: The US and EU won't be far behind, and mandatory 15% to 30% fees could soon be a thing of the past.

Meanwhile, antitrust cases against Amazon are also brewing in other countries, like the US and Australia. Still, privacy protections in those countries are far weaker than in the EU, so it’s unlikely that similar complaints to the LQDN’s would hold water.