June 14, 2021
Lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives Friday introduced four bills aimed at curbing the power of the tech giants, one of which could potentially lead to their break-up.
Two of the bills address the problem of Amazon and Google forming a platform for other companies and then competing against the same companies.
The first bill prohibits platforms from owning subsidiaries that operate on their platform when those subsidiaries compete with other companies – potentially forcing technology giants to sell assets.
The second bill would in most cases make it illegal for a platform to give preference to its own products on its platform and impose a substantial fine amounting to 30% of the U.S. revenue of the company concerned for violating the measure.
The third law would require platforms to refrain from mergers unless they can prove that the merged entity does not compete with a product or service in which the merged entity is located.
The fourth draft law provides that platforms will allow users to transfer their data elsewhere if they wish, including to a direct competitor.
A fifth bill would increase what the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission require to check the legality of mergers between the largest companies, and increase the budgets of these agencies, a bill that has already passed the Upper House.
For more information, read the original story in Reuters.
