House Democrats are planning to introduce a series of five antitrust laws targeting big tech giants Apple
The laws were created in response to a 2020 report from the House Judiciary Committee which provided recommendations on regulating competition in digital markets. The report also found that the four tech giants listed above had established monopolies over sections of the online economy.
The five bills include some considerably controversial provisions which will make passing these laws more difficult. Still, both Democrats and Republicans have expressed interest in funding more antitrust efforts against big tech. The Dems hope to attract at least a few GOP Congressmen into supporting the bills, particularly those with recognized anti-big tech views.
Of course, spokespeople for the interests of those big tech companies have already come out in opposition to these laws. Adam Kovacevich, a member of the Chamber of Progress, a big-tech-backed lobbying group, has said that these laws will take away some of the features that consumers like best about these platforms.
"Banning conveniences like Amazon Basics brand batteries, Apple's Find My Phone tool, or Google Maps appearing in Google search results are ideas that would spark a consumer backlash," Kovacevich said. "These proposals inexplicably target a bunch of technological conveniences that most people really like."
Proponents of the laws, on the other hand, see them as a promising start to wresting some of the vast power away from these mega-companies. Yelp's
"There's no technical reason a service like Google Maps can't be powered by higher quality third party services like TripAdvisor and Yelp, and this legislation would facilitate such interoperability," Lowe told Politico. "Big Tech-funded front groups like the Chamber of Progress will use scare tactics to suggest these bills will result in consumers losing access to services; nothing could be further from the truth."
The five bills are meant to provide the government with more power to break up and control these tech giants.
One law will allow the Department of Justice or Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to break up big tech companies that believe have a conflict of interest. This means targeting companies that promote their own products on their platform, including Amazon.
Next, a second law will require online platforms to support the transportation of data between their service and another. This is meant to allow consumers the freedom to easily move their data to another service. While the FTC will establish the rules regarding this transfer, the DOJ and FTC both can sue to enforce these interoperability requirements.
The third law is meant to restrict big tech companies from discriminating against their rivals, meaning it would also bar companies from giving their own products special preference. This law is aimed at both Apple's App Store and Amazon's Marketplace. Companies would also be restricted from withholding customers' commercial data from businesses on their platform, as well as requiring those businesses to buy another product or service to gain access to the platform.
For instance, this law might conflict with Apple's alleged practice of illegally favoring developers on their platform who also purchased and used other Apple services.
The fourth law would require companies to show "clear and convincing evidence" that a potential acquisition does not and could not represent a competitive threat before they can begin that acquisition. This is meant to combat controversial actions like Facebook's purchase of Instagram and WhatsApp.
Finally, the fifth law would increase the filing fees that companies have to pay to antitrust agencies in order to have their merger proposals reviewed.
