The head of the Justice Department’s antitrust division is looking for a far more aggressive approach in dismantling big tech monopolies, as a congressional bill targeting the sector remains stalled.

During a speech at the Fordham University Conference on International Law and Policy in New York City, Jonathan Kanter referred to the previous “whack-a-mole” attacks on the likes of Google, Amazon, Meta and Apple.

“No one ever really wins that game — the moles just keep coming,” Kanter said.

“To stop them from popping up, you really need to unplug the machine. In the same way, enforcers need to unplug the monopolisation machine in digital platform industries.

“The digital economy has enabled monopoly power of a nature and degree not seen before in our country.”

As the same conference, FTC Chair Lina Khan called the antitrust legislation in Congress “an extremely healthy development.”

The bill, passed by the Senate in January and currently stalled in Congress, would block big tech companies from favouring its own products in search results.

Last week, DOJ attorney Kenneth Dintzer reiterated claims that Google’s parent company Alphabet is paying out billions of dollars a year to Apple, Samsung, and other leading tech companies to illegally maintain its search engine dominance.

“Google invests billions in defaults, knowing people won’t change them,” Dintzer told Judge Amit Mehta during a hearing in Washington.

“They are buying default exclusivity because defaults matter a lot. Default exclusivity allows Google to systemically deny rivals’ data.”

Google was also unsuccessful in its appeal to dodge a record A$5.98 billion fine for using Android to unfairly maintain its search engine dominance.

The €4.125 billion fine is largest anti-trust fine ever given by the European Commission, who found Google breached anti-competition laws by forcing Android phone developers into pre-installing its search and browser apps if they wish to also include the Google Play Store.