U.S. Lawmakers Introduce Antitrust Legislation That Could Significantly Impact Apple and Other Tech Companies

[MacRumors]

U.S. House lawmakers today announced sweeping bipartisan antitrust legislation that could result in major changes to the tech industry, impacting companies like Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google.

These measures are the culmination of a 16-month antitrust investigation into tech companies practices that kicked off in 2019, and which saw Apple CEO Tim Cook testify in an antitrust hearing alongside Alphabet/Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

At the conclusion of that hearing, which took place in July 2020, the U.S. House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee leading the inquiry released a 450 page report with recommendations that have turned into the new antitrust bills that were proposed today. The five bills are aimed at Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google, with Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline suggesting the legislation will "level the playing field."

"The American people sent us to Washington to get things done. Nothing is more important than ensuring every American has an opportunity to get ahead. Right now, unregulated tech monopolies have too much power over our economy. They are in a unique position to pick winners and losers, destroy small businesses, raise prices on consumers, and put folks out of work. Our agenda will level the playing field and ensure the wealthiest, most powerful tech monopolies play by the same rules as the rest of us."

Rep. Ken Buck, the lead Republican on the committee, said that the four major tech companies have "harmed American businesses and consumers" by prioritizing "power over innovation."

"Big Tech has abused its dominance in the marketplace to crush competitors, censor speech, and control how we see and understand the world. Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google have prioritized power over innovation and harmed American businesses and consumers in the process. These companies have maintained monopoly power in the online marketplace by using a variety of anticompetitive behaviors to stifle competition. This legislation breaks up Big Tech's monopoly power to control what Americans see and say online, and fosters an online market that encourages innovation and provides American small businesses with a fair playing field. Doing nothing is not an option, we must act now."

There are five separate bipartisan bills that have been drafted by lawmakers, as outlined below:

• "American Innovation and Choice Online Act" - Prohibits discriminatory conduct by dominant platforms, including a ban on self-preferencing and picking winners and losers online.
• "Platform Competition and Opportunity Act" - Prohibits acquisitions of competitive threats by dominant platforms, as well acquisitions that expand or entrench the market power of online platforms.
• "Ending Platform Monopolies Act" - Eliminates the ability of dominant platforms to leverage their control over across multiple business lines to self-preference and disadvantage competitors in ways that undermine free and fair competition.
• "Augmenting Compatibility and Competition by Enabling Service Switching (ACCESS) Act" - Promotes competition online by lowering barriers to entry and switching costs for businesses and consumers through interoperability and data portability requirements.
• The "Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act" - Updates filing fees for mergers for the first time in two decades to ensure that Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission have the resources they need to aggressively enforce the antitrust laws.

Apple's competitors have already been weighing in on the bills. Spotify legal chief Horatio Gutierrez said in a statement that the American Choice and Innovation Online Act is an "important step in addressing anti-competitive conduct in the App Store ecosystem, and a clear sign that momentum has shifted as the world is waking up to the need to demand fair competition in the App economy."

If ultimately passed, the legislation will overhaul competition laws that have not been revisited for decades, but tech companies will likely fight the bills.

Article Link: U.S. Lawmakers Introduce Antitrust Legislation That Could Significantly Impact Apple and Other Tech Companies

 

[Realityck]

U.S. House lawmakers today announced sweeping bipartisan antitrust legislation that could result in major changes to the tech industry, impacting companies like Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google.

first link above is not working s/b

Keeps changing but here is the link again.

 

[Expos of 1969]

As Bush Jr. said, "Bring it on''

 

[Cosmosent]

This is really just the first salvo !

 

[ghanwani]

If ultimately passed, the legislation will overhaul competition laws that have not been revisited for decades, but tech companies will likely fight the bills.

My money is on this being kabuki theater.

Remember those big banks that caused the great financial crisis in 2008? Those guys are bigger than ever despite 12+ years of dog & pony shows in DC.

 

[Realityck]

What justifies dominant platforms, a too successful business?

 

[JetLaw]

Whenever I see bipartisan lawmaking it reminds me why I hate both parties.

 

[nwcs]

Why don’t they apply these same standards to content makers who have been vacuuming up companies and content and centralizing it with strong verticals. Same thing but different field.

 

[Adithya007]

Yeah now if only they make it a law to not treat iPad Pro owners like ****.

 

[9927036]

Why don’t they apply these same standards to content makers who have been vacuuming up companies and content and centralizing it with strong verticals. Same thing but different field.

They have to start somewhere and the information released in the Epic trial shows the urgency of the situation with the FAANGs.

 

[jonblatho]

Yeah now if only they make it a law to not treat iPad Pro owners like ****.

If you didn’t like the product when you bought it, why’d you buy it?

 

[alex00100]

****ing finally

 

[munpip214]

We really need to break up these two political parties. They have become a monopoly and they’re not looking out for the small business or consumers…

Innovation in politics is severely limited

 

[DekuBleep]

Seems like a step in the right direction. I wonder who gets to define what is a dominant platform? I mean would the Playstation 5 buisness model be legal under this legislation?

 

[fwmireault]

Yeah now if only they make it a law to not treat iPad Pro owners like ****.

Off topic and get over it

 

[spyguy10709]

About time. The concept of antitrust/antimonopoly is an old one, when people talk about a time when america was "great" - these types of policies (as well as labor unions) curtailed corporate greed. Look into Teddy Roosevelt and the trust-busters. This legislation seems to enhance competition, not stifle it. I see this as a win for all Americans.

Without updating these laws to apply to the 21st century? One of our country's greatest assets - the fair and free open market, cannot exist.

 

[TheRealTVGuy]

“Prioritizing power over innovation”?! What the hell are they talking about? Have they been living under a rock since 2006?

“Updating Filing Fees” aka increasing prices to make it more of a burden on the companies they’re purportedly trying to help.

“Prohibiting Acquisitions” talk about stifling innovation/sector growth.

No, we the people did NOT send you to Washington for this. None of it. Again, unless it has to do with Food, clothing, shelter, healthcare, transportation, the value of the dollar, or a standing military, stay the hell out of it!

 

[luigi408]

Finally! I hope they pass!

 

[fwmireault]

Seems like a step in the right direction. I wonder who gets to define what is a dominant platform? I mean would the Playstation 5 buisness model be legal under this legislation?

WSJ : “ The definitions of companies targeted by the bills state that they must have a market capitalization of $600 billion or more, must have more than 500,000 active monthly users and must be a critical trading partner. ”

 

[DekuBleep]

WSJ : “ The definitions of companies targeted by the bills state that they must have a market capitalization of $600 billion or more, must have more than 500,000 active monthly users and must be a critical trading partner. ”

Not many companies currently have a market cap over $600b.

 

[TheRealTVGuy]

What justifies dominant platforms, a too successful business?

If anything it disenfranchises and disincentives companies from providing innovative, easy to use, top-to-bottom ecosystems that make the world a better place.

Why invest in building hardware, software, and maintaining marketplace if the feds can just come in and make you share it?

 

[fwmireault]

Not many companies currently have a market cap over $600b.

No it looks like it was explicitly defined to target Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon

 

[jonblatho]

There are five separate bipartisan bills that have been drafted by lawmakers

Apple failed to address developer relations in any serious fashion at WWDC, and so they’ve now reaped the reward: a bipartisan bill specifically targeting the App Store business model.

 

[tubular]

I'd be the first to applaud if it broke up Facebook into leeeetle tiny pieces. Same with Google and Amazon.

Don't care about Netflix either way, I don't stream movies.

And Apple -- well, not much there to break up, is there.

 

[TheRealTVGuy]

No it looks like it was explicitly defined to target Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon

Because THAT’S the kind of power the government should have.

At that point, aren’t they doing exactly what they’re accusing Apple of doing, picking the winners and the losers?

Hell, time to setup “separate” subsidiaries that don’t meet the market cap.