June 9, 2022
U.S. lawmakers now have the necessary vote in the Senate to pass legislation that will prevent large technology companies from favoring their own companies in search results and other ways.
The bill aims to curtail the powers of four tech giants, Meta’s Facebook, Apple, Alphabet’s Google and Amazon. Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar and Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, Republican, are the co-sponsors of the bill.
In the Senate, bills generally need the support of 60 senators to get debate and a vote on final passage.
The law has been heavily criticized by top tech companies, with Amazon declaring that the law “jeopardizes two of the things that American consumers love most about Amazon: the vast selection and low prices made possible by opening our store to third-party selling partners, and the promise of fast, free shipping through Amazon Prime.”
In a letter to the Senate, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce called the bill “misguided” and said it would “be an overhaul of the American economy, one sector at a time.”
Among the pro-technology groups opposed to the law are the Chamber of Progress, TechNet, and the Computer & Communications Industry Association.
The sources for this piece include an article in Reuters.
