Members of the United States’ Lower House in Action: Curbing the Power of Tech Giants | Financial

A number of members of the United States House of Representatives have presented a comprehensive set of proposals that would make it more difficult for companies to make acquisitions, but also prohibit them from owning companies that are clearly competitors of each other. .

Antitrust reforms were introduced on Friday by a group of politicians with the aim of reforming age-old rules over the next few years. The proposals still need to be approved by a special committee before being sent to the entire House of Representatives. They must also pass the Senate before President Joe Biden can sign them. Democrats and Republicans disagreed on some solutions, but mostly agreed on the alleged damage to competition and the need for reform.

Legislative proposals

Two of the new bills introduced on Friday could prove particularly difficult for Amazon and Apple to manage. Both companies operate marketplaces where they also sell their own products or applications. They compete with those of other vendors or developers who in turn depend on both.

The moves follow a lengthy investigation into the four companies, which was concluded last year by a special House of Representatives antitrust committee. The company then concluded that Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google held monopoly positions and that antitrust laws needed to be revised to better address the unique challenges of competing in digital markets.