Antitrust probe agrees on problems, divided over solutions
What you need to know
- A House subcommittee probing competition in big tech believes there is a "significant" problem.
- Members of the committee are united that companies like Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple have acted anticompetitively.
- The groups report has been delayed whilst negotiations over solutions take place.
A report from the House antitrust committee has been delayed as members of the committee try to hash out solutions to "significant" anticompetitive behavior.
According to Politico:
A draft report is based on 16 months of investigation into big tech companies, including testimony from Tim Cook, Sundar Pichai, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg. According to Politico, both Democrats and Republicans agree regarding their findings of anticompetitive behavior and the need for better legislation:
As this notes, however, there is less agreement on the proposed solutions. Disagreement seems to abound over proposals such as eliminating arbitration clauses, further opening up companies to class action lawsuits, and "advancing legislation to force structural breakups of major online platforms like Amazon."
Buck wrote that the report gave a "chilling look" at how Apple, Google, Amazon, and Facebook "have used their power to control how we see and understand the world."
In a statement Buck said:
"I agree with Chairman Cicilline that Big Tech has acted in an anticompetitive manner. The next phase is to start working on solutions. With a problem this significant, one shouldn't be surprised that there is a variety of legislative solutions being offered."
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A report to be published by the group has been delayed, following an offer to negotiate on aspects of the proposed recommendations that could guide future legislation.
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