By Marcy Gordon, Business Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) --A group of House lawmakers put forward a sweeping legislative package Friday that could curb the market power of Big Tech companies and force Facebook, Google, Amazon or Apple to sever their dominant platforms from their other lines of business.
The bipartisan proposals are the culmination of a 15-month investigation by the House Judiciary Committee's antitrust subcommittee, led by Democratic Rep. David Cicilline of Rhode Island. It concluded that the four tech giants have abused their market power by charging excessive fees, imposing tough contract terms and extracting valuable data from individuals and businesses that rely on them.
"Right now, unregulated tech monopolies have too much power over our economy," Cicilline said in a statement. "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."
The proposed legislation targets the structure of the companies and could break them up, a radical step for Congress to take toward a powerful industry. The tech giants for decades have enjoyed light-touch regulation and star status in Washington, but have come under intensifying scrutiny and derision over issues of competition, consumer privacy and hate speech.
As a candidate, President Joe Biden said breaking up big tech companies should be considered, though he hasn't spoken on the issue as president. If such steps were mandated, they could bring the biggest changes to the industry since the federal government's landmark case against Microsoft almost 20 years ago.
Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado, the senior Republican on the antitrust panel, is pushing the legislation with Cicilline. Many Republican lawmakers denounce the market dominance of Big Tech but don't support a wholesale revamp of the antitrust laws.
Advancing the legislation through Congress could be a tough slog. Democrats control the House but they would need to garner Republican votes in the Senate, which is split 50-50 with the Democrats' one-vote margin depending on Vice President Kamala Harris being the tiebreaker.
The proposals also would prohibit big tech companies from favoring their own products and services over competitors on their platforms. The House antitrust investigation found, for example, that Google has monopoly power in the market for search, while Facebook has monopoly power in the social networking market. The subcommittee said Amazon and Apple have "significant and durable market power" in the U.S. online retail market, and in mobile operating systems and mobile app stores, respectively.
The proposed legislation also would make it more difficult for the giant tech companies to snap up competitors in mergers, which they have completed by scores in recent years. And it asks Congress to boost the enforcement powers of antitrust regulators, such as the Federal Trade Commission.
The four companies have rejected lawmakers' accusations of abusing their dominant market position and have asserted that improper intervention in the market through legislation would hurt small businesses and consumers.
A tech industry group, the Computer & Communications Industry Association, said Friday the legislation has the aim "of regulating a selected group of American digital service providers."
"These proposed regulations represent a shift from the market-oriented principles that have characterized U.S. economic policy," the group said. "They would have a severe impact on U.S. economic leadership, and decrease consumers' ability to enjoy free digital services."
Changes Afoot For Cannes Lions 2025, Including Increasing Festival Access For Underserved Communities
The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is putting plans in motion for its 72nd edition, set to take place from June 16-20, 2025 in Cannes, France. The Festival has announced that it will double funding to provide โฌ2m (some $2,150,000) worth of complimentary passes to underrepresented talent and underserved communities through its Equity, Representation and Accessibility (ERA) Pass, returning for a second year.
Frank Starling, chief DEI officer, Lions, said the increased investment was โcrucial to continue to drive progress for both Cannes Lions and the industry.โ Starling added, โThe ERA pass plays an important role in fostering a global representation of talent within the creative communications industry at Cannes Lions, and to date our funded opportunities have reached creatives in 46 countries globally. With the Festival being the destination for everyone in the business of creativity, we recognize the importance of creating equitable access to it, and this is why weโre prioritizing increased representation from the Global South to support a greater range of voices and perspectives from the region at the Festival.โ Applications for the ERA pass are open now and close on December 5, 2025. More details can be found here.
With submissions into the Cannes Lions Awards opening on January 16, 2025, innovations to the Awards have also been announced today. Glass: The Lion for Change celebrates 10 years since its introduction. The Glass Lion was launched to champion work that used creativity to drive a shift towards more positive, progressive and gender-aware communication, and Marian Brannelly, global... Read More