WASHINGTON”•The antitrust overhaul package unveiled in Congress targeting Big Tech, if enacted, could have far-reaching effects on how people use the internet and on America’s biggest and most successful companies.
The five bills, due for a committee vote on Wednesday, could pave the way for a reorganization or breakup of giants such as Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon while reshaping the entire internet ecosystem.
The measures would stop tech giants from operating a platform for third parties while offering competing services on those platforms, dealing a major blow to the likes of Apple and Amazon.
Lawmakers also are seeking to ban tech firms from prioritizing their own products or services, with Google clearly in mind.
Another measure would require data “portability” and “interoperability,” which could make it easier for people to quit Facebook, for example, while keeping their data and contacts.
The largest tech firms additionally would be barred from acquiring competitors under the package, which would also add funds for antitrust enforcement.
Fiona Scott Morton, a Yale University professor and former US official who has written extensively on Big Tech, said the legislation stems from the failure of antitrust enforcement in the US and elsewhere to make a dent in the dominance of major technology firms.
“This is regulation, it’s not antitrust anymore,” Morton said.
If the bills are enacted, she noted, Apple might have to sell or shut down its music service so that it doesn’t discriminate against rivals such as Spotify.
“Apple would have to choose,” she said.
An interoperability requirement “would be very profound for consumers because it would let people join social networks other than Facebook and (Facebook-owned) Instagram and stay in contact with their friends,” Morton noted.
The package comes amid signs of a more aggressive posture by Washington against dominant tech firms, including President Joe Biden’s nomination of Lina Khan”•a prominent advocate of breaking up Big Tech”•to head the Federal Trade Commission, one of the agencies charged with antitrust enforcement.
The House Judiciary Committee has scheduled a vote Wednesday on the package, which has some support from Republicans in addition to the Democratic leadership, signaling a likelihood of passage in the full House of Representatives. The fate in the Senate is less clear.
