Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google logos in a combined photo / Photo Photo
The Judiciary Committee of the US House of Representatives has officially approved a report accusing Big Tech companies of buying or crushing smaller companies, the office of representative David Cicilline said on Thursday.
With the approval during a marathon, partisan hearing, the staff report of over 400 pages will become an official report of the committee and the legislative plan to restrict the market power of those such as Google Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL.O) Google, Apple Inc. (AAPL.O), Amazon.com (AMZN.O) and Facebook (FB.O).
The report was approved by a 24-17 vote that was divided on the party line. The companies denied any wrongdoing.
The report, first published in October – the first such congressional review of the technology industry – suggested extensive changes to antitrust law and described dozens of cases in which it said companies had abused their power.
“Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook each have monopoly power over significant sectors of our economy. This moment of monopoly must end,” Cicilline said in a statement. “Now that the Judicial Committee has formally adopted our conclusions, I look forward to drafting legislation to address the significant concerns I have raised.”
The first bill has already been introduced. A bipartisan group of US lawmakers led by Cicilline and Senator Amy Klobuchar introduced the law in March to make it easier for news organizations to bargain collectively with platforms such as Google and Facebook.
Also in the Senate, Klobuchar introduced a broader bill in February aimed at strengthening the capacity of antitrust law enforcement to stop mergers by lowering the barrier to stopping transactions and increasing resources for law enforcement.
The Cicilline report, whose origins were bipartisan, contained a menu of potential changes in antitrust law.
Suggestions ranged from aggressive, such as preventing companies like Amazon.com from operating in competing and less controversial markets, such as increasing the budgets of antitrust law enforcement agencies – the antitrust division of the Department of Justice and the Federal Commission for trade.
The report also called on Congress to allow antitrust authorities to give more freedom in stopping companies from acquiring potential rivals, which is now difficult.
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