Antitrust legislation targeting Big Tech dominance approved by the US House of Representatives

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The House on Thursday approved antitrust legislation targeting the dominance of Big Tech companies by giving states more power in matters of competition and increasing funding for federal regulators.

The bipartisan measure passed by a vote of 242–184. It was set aside from more ambitious provisions aimed at reining in Meta, Google, Amazon and Apple and was approved by key House and Senate committees. Those proposals hung on for months, giving the companies time for vigorous lobbying campaigns against them.

The more limited bill would give states an upper hand over companies in choosing the location of the courts that decide federal antitrust cases. Proponents say the change will tout the “home-court advantage” that Big Tech companies enjoy in federal court in Northern California, where many cases are tried and many companies are based.

Several state attorneys general have pursued antitrust cases against the industry, and several states are joining the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission in their landmark lawsuits against Google and Meta (then called Facebook), respectively, in late 2020. Went.

The bill would increase the fees paid by companies to federal agencies for all proposed mergers of $500 million (about Rs 4,080 crore) or more, while reducing fees for small and medium-sized transactions. The aim is to increase revenue for federal enforcement efforts.

Under the bill, companies seeking merger approval must disclose subsidies received from countries that are considered to pose a strategic or economic risk to the United States – particularly China.

“We find ourselves in a monopoly moment as a country,” Rep. Lori Trahan, D-Mass., said before the vote. “Multibillion-dollar corporations have grown into behemoths, using their dominance to eliminate any real competition in their industries and to hurt small businesses and consumers. Meta’s monopoly power has made it women, children and It has enabled people of all ages to come to harm without recourse. Amazon has used its dominance to copy competitors’ products and drive small businesses off the ground.”

The Biden administration, which has pushed for antitrust legislation targeting Big Tech, backed the bill this week.

The legislation drew fierce opposition from conservative Republicans, who split from their GOP allies who supported the bill. Conservatives objected to the proposed revenue increase for antitrust regulators, arguing it had been shamelessly overreacted by the FTC under President Joe Biden.

Representative Tom McClintock, R-Calif., described the leader of the FTC, Lena Khan, as a “radical leftist” who was trying to replace consumer decisions with her own.

Another California Republican, Rep. Darrell Issa told his colleagues, “If you want to stifle innovation, vote for it.”

If Republicans win control of the House or Senate in November’s elections, they will certainly seek to downplay the FTC’s activism and challenge its broad interpretation of legal authority.

More widespread antitrust motions would ban powerful tech companies from favoring their products and services over rivals on their platforms and could even lead to mandatory breakups for companies to separate the major platforms from their other businesses. Huh. For example, they could prevent Amazon from turning consumers away to its own brands and to competitors’ products on its massive e-commerce platform.

The drafting of that law marked a turning point in Congress’s effort to curb the dominance of tech giants and anti-competitive practices that critics say have hurt consumers, small businesses and innovation. But the proposal is complex and lawmakers on both sides objected to some of the provisions, even as all condemned the tech giant’s conduct.

Lawmakers are faced with a delicate task as they try to rein in a powerful industry whose services, mostly free or almost as much, are popular with consumers and embedded in daily life.

So with time to act as November’s elections approach in about six weeks, lawmakers took out less controversial provisions on antitrust court places and merger filing fees, putting them in the new bill that was passed.

Lawmakers added a provision targeting foreign subsidies to US companies. Republicans have particularly vocally criticized the Chinese ownership of the popular video platform TikTok.

In the Senate, Minnesota Democrat Amy Klobuchar is sponsoring similar legislation along with Republicans Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Mike Lee of Utah.

“Effective antitrust enforcement is critical to ensuring consumers and small businesses have the opportunity to compete,” Klobuchar said in a statement Thursday. “Enforcers can’t take on the biggest companies in the world with duct tape and Band-Aids yet.”


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