The US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee announced the conclusion on whether Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Google violated antitrust laws. Its 449-page report criticized these companies for buying competitors, prioritizing their own services, and having excessive power over small businesses that use their platforms.
IT House learned that the Democratic Party’s report found that these companies have monopoly power in the following areas.
Apple: Distribution of software applications on iOS devices.
Amazon: Most third-party sellers and many suppliers.
Facebook: online advertising and social networking.
Google: Search online.
The committee recommended that Congress proceed to amend the antitrust law, which may result in the separation of some of its businesses.
The Democrats specifically recommend the following actions:
Implement structural separation and prohibit leading platforms from entering adjacent business lines. The chairman of the subcommittee David Cicilline (DR.I.) previously called this method a “Glass-Steagall” method of the Internet, referring to the commercial banks and the The law of separation of investment banks.
Instruct the antitrust agency to presume that the merger of the dominant platform is anti-competitive, and transfer the responsibility for proving that its transactions will not harm competition to the merging party, rather than let the law enforcer prove that it will harm competition.
Prevent the dominant platform from giving priority to its own services, but let them provide “equal products and services with the same conditions.”
Leading companies are required to make their services compatible with competitors and allow users to transfer data.
Overturn “problematic precedents” in the antitrust case law.
The Federal Trade Commission is required to collect data on concentration on a regular basis.
Increase the budget of the Federal Trade Commission and the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice.
Strengthen private law enforcement by removing mandatory arbitration clauses and restrictions on class actions.
The Republican members of the committee do not support all measures, including the implementation of structural separation, and will also publish a report on online platforms’ bias against conservatives.
The results of the investigation may affect Epic’s ongoing lawsuit against Apple in the United States . Epic accuses Apple of abusing their software distribution monopoly on the iOS platform.
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