The logos of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google in a combination photo
The U.S. House of Representatives’ judicial committee has formally approved a report accusing Big Tech businesses of buying or smashing smaller businesses, Representative David Cicilline’s office said Thursday.
With the approval during a marathon, biased hearing, the more than 400-page staff report will become an official report of the committee and the blueprint for legislation to strengthen the market power of people like Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O), Google, Apple . Inc. (AAPL.O), Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) and Facebook Inc (FB.O).
The report was approved by a 24-17 vote divided along party lines. The companies deny any wrongdoing.
The report, first launched in October – the first such congressional review of the technology industry – proposed extensive amendments to antitrust legislation and described dozens of cases in which companies were said to have abused their power.
“Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook each possess monopolistic power over key sectors of our economy. This monopolistic moment must end,” Cicilline said in a statement. “I look forward to drafting legislation that addresses the key concerns we have raised.”
The first bill has already been introduced. A two-party group of U.S. lawmakers led by Cicilline and Senator Amy Klobuchar introduced legislation in March aimed at making it easier for news organizations to negotiate jointly with platforms such as Google and Facebook.
Also in the Senate, Klobuchar introduced a broader bill in February to strengthen the ability of monopolistic institutions to stop mergers by lowering the bar for cessation of transactions and giving more money for legal battles.
The Cicilline report, the origins of which were twofold, contains a menu with possible changes in antitrust legislation.
Republicans have criticized Big Tech companies for allegedly censoring the Conservative speech, pointing out that Facebook and Twitter froze or banned former President Donald Trump’s platforms.
Despite their anger, most Republicans do not support the proposed amendments to the Antitrust Act, but discuss the removal of social media companies from legal protections they offer under section 230 of the Communications Act. The law gives businesses immunity over content posted by users on their websites.
The proposed legislation in the report ranged from aggressive, such as possibly preventing companies such as Amazon.com from operating in the markets in which they also compete, to the less controversial, such as increasing the budgets of the agencies that enforce antitrust legislation – the Antitrust of the Department of Justice. Division and the Federal Trade Commission.
The report also called on Congress to give antitrust enforcers more leeway to stop companies from buying potential competitors, something that is difficult now.
Our standards: the principles of the Thomson Reuters Trust.