Attorney General William Barr has spent months taking greater control of the Justice Department's antitrust probes into the big tech companies, a development that could increase the peril for major players like Google and Facebook.

H/T: POLITICO

During his Senate confirmaion hearings, Barr made his intentions regarding Silicon Valley clear: “I think a lot of people wonder how such huge behemoths that now exist in Silicon Valley have taken shape under the nose of the antitrust enforcers."

In January, AG Barr gave me his commitment that he would take Big Tech antitrust concerns seriously. Glad to see he’s following through pic.twitter.com/U5XjTo3USc — Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) July 23, 2019

It shouldn't surprise anyone, either. This is Barr's area of expertise:

Barr, who previously served as President George H.W. Bush’s attorney general before going to work in the telecom industry, developed antitrust expertise on both sides of the Atlantic as a top lawyer for GTE and then Verizon. He helped shepherd a number of landmark telecom mergers: the Bell Atlantic-GTE deal that formed Verizon in 2000; Verizon’s merger with MCI in 2006; and Verizon’s $28 billion purchase of Alltel in 2008.

Back in December, Attorney General William Barr discussed the Justice Department’s investigation into big technology firms over anti-trust concerns in an interview that aired on FOX Business. Watch below.