Top US antitrust lawmaker targets Big Tech with new bills: Sources
Lawmakers in the House of Representatives are seeking to target US Big Tech with new antitrust bills, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The lawmakers are currently working on drafts of five bills, four of which aim to rein in American tech giants, the sources said.
The measures will be introduced this week but that may be delayed, sources told Reuters, which has read discussion drafts of the five measures.
They added that the drafts may be changed before they are introduced.
Two of the bills address the problems of platforms, like Amazon.com, creating a space for businesses to sell products and then competing against those products.
According to one of the two, a platform, in most cases, cannot advantage its own products on its platform and if it fails to follow the measure, it will face a possible fine of 30% of the US revenues of the affected business.
The other one would make it obligatory for platforms to sell any business if owning it creates an incentive for the platform to advantage its own products or lines of business.
And while a third bill would obligate a platform to refrain from any merger unless it can prove the acquired firm does not compete with any product or service the platform is in, the fourth would require platforms to set up a way for users to transfer data if they wish, including to a competing business.
The fifth measure like a Senate bill would increase what the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charge to assess the largest firms to ensure their mergers are legal and raise the budget of the agencies.
A scathing report the House Judiciary Committee's antitrust panel issued in October 2020 spelled out abuses by four big technology companies, Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google, Apple Inc (AAPL.O), Amazon.com and Facebook (FB.O). The report suggested that expansive changes be made to antitrust law.
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