A panel set up by the US House of Representative has stated that there is an abuse of market power by four major technology companies in their bid to rake in more profit. This in turn is destroying rivals and forcing small businesses to their knees.
According to the report by Reuters, the panel known as the antitrust subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee holds that Google, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook should not have dual powers to control and compete in the same business. Part of the recommendation is that these companies should be restructured but there was no revelation whether a specific company should be broken up.
The full report by the subcommittee is contained in a 449-page document. The report suggests wide changes to antitrust law and also listed “dozens of instances where companies misused their power”. It also revealed how companies did everything they could to dominate over competitors in order to control large portions of the internet.
One example is Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram back in 2012, when Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO, noted the photo-sharing platform is building a competitive network that could be “very disruptive to us”, the report reads.
Changes suggested by the committee include stopping Google to both run the auctions for online ad space and participate in those auctions. Another suggestion is for Amazon to stop operating on markets where it also competes with other retailers, but the report also urged US Congress to act on allowing antitrust enforcers more freedom to stop purchases of potential rivals.
It is still a long way off for the report to the spun into an act of congress. Reuters noted that if the presidential elections are won by Joe Biden, the Democratic majority in the House might keep pressuring Congress to act on the findings and introduce a revamped antitrust law.
UP NEXT: POCO C3 for Rs 7,499 (~$102) brings 6.53-inch display, Helio G35, 13MP triple cameras and 5,000mAh battery
Comments