US lawmakers unveiled a wide-ranging antitrust agenda Friday, aiming to rein in the competitive power of giants like Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google. The …
US lawmakers unveiled a wide-ranging antitrust agenda Friday, aiming to rein in the competitive power of giants like Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google. The five bipartisan bills, the result of more than a year investigating competition in the digital marketplace, target what lawmakers call the « unregulated power wielded » by Big Tech. The bills are aimed at Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google, which collectively influence almost every aspect of online life. If eventually passed into law, the bills would make it easier for the government to break up dominant companies and prevent them from snuffing out competition through preemptive acquisitions. Rep. David N. Cicilline, a Rhode Island Democrat and chairman of the House Antitrust Subcommittee, said the slate of bills would « level the playing field » and ensure tech companies were held to the same rules. « Right now, unregulated tech monopolies have too much power over our economy, » Cicilline said in a press release. « They are in a unique position to pick winners and losers, destroy small businesses, raise prices on consumers, and put folks out of work. » Facebook and Google declined to comment. Apple and Amazon didn’t respond to messages seeking comment. The immense market power of these companies, which collectively represent more than $6 trillion in market value, has confounded the basic principles that guided antitrust legislation in the US for a generation. Lawmakers have become increasingly concerned by the industry’s behavior and threatened to address it. In July, the chief executives of the four companies were hauled in front of Cicilline’s committee for a grueling six-hour hearing, an unprecedented public interrogation of Big Tech’s most visible leaders.
