Home » Anti-monopoly intensively promotes the intensification of the game between US technology giants and the government | Amazon | Antitrust

Anti-monopoly intensively promotes the intensification of the game between US technology giants and the government | Amazon | Antitrust

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Original title: Anti-monopoly intensive promotion of the game between US technology giants and the government intensified Source: Economic Information News

The antitrust actions in the United States have intensified. Following the announcement of the five major antitrust drafts in mid-June, on the 23rd local time, the U.S. House of Representatives advanced several antitrust measures.American media reported that in order to avoid being split up, American technology giants are trying to discourage the government from advancing related measures. On June 23, local time, the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee reviewed six antitrust bills, mostly aimed at controlling the expanding power of large technology companies.

Intensive promotion of antitrust bills

The Democratic Chairman of the Judiciary Committee and U.S. Rep. Gerald Nadler called these bills a “historic bipartisan package of bills” in his opening speech, which aims to “control the abuse of the most dominant companies on the Internet.” .

After more than three hours of discussion, the committee decided by a vote of 29 to 12 to substantially increase the budgets of the Antitrust Department of the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). In addition, litigation fees for the largest merger will be increased. These measures have been passed in the Senate.

The committee also passed a bill by a vote of 34 to 7 to ensure that antitrust cases brought by state attorneys general will remain in the court of their choice.

The committee then discussed a bill requiring platforms to allow users to transfer their data to other places.

Among the other bills reviewed that day, two bills addressed the issue of giant companies such as Amazon and Google creating platforms for other companies and competing with these companies. One required these companies to sell competing businesses, and the other required platforms not to favoritism. Own business. There is also a piece of legislation that requires no mergers unless it can be proven that the acquired company does not compete with it.

Earlier, on June 11, local time, the US House of Representatives announced five drafts, the main purpose of which is to promote anti-monopoly reforms and reshape the business norms of US technology giants, targeting Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google. Among them, the illegal conflicts targeted by the “Termination of Platform Monopoly Act” include: Anything that incentivizes companies to favor their own rather than competitors’ services or anything that potential competitors who use the platform are at a disadvantage; “American Choice and Innovation Online Act” It is forbidden for dominant platforms to make their products and services superior to competitors on the platform, other types of discriminatory behaviors are prohibited, and dominant platforms are prohibited from using data collected in their services that have not been disclosed to others to claim their competing products, in order to prevent Giants provide their own product or service preferences or “select winners and losers online”; the “Platform Competition and Opportunity Act” prohibits acquisitions aimed at suppressing competitive threats, or acquisitions aimed at expanding or consolidating the market power of online platforms; “by enabling services The “Exchange Act Enhances Compatibility and Competitiveness” restricts dominant platforms from using their multiple types of business control to bring unfair advantages and disadvantages to competitors, by lowering barriers to entry and companies and consumers are turning to new ones. The cost of supplier time to promote more fair online competition; the “Merger Application Fee Modernization Act” updates the merger application fee to provide funds for the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission to take necessary antitrust actions.

Giants face the destiny of “slimming” spin-off

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Last fall, the United States ended a 16-month antitrust investigation. Recently, the Biden administration is preparing to advance a bill to terminate platform monopoly.

The new bill will specifically target platforms with a market value of more than 600 billion U.S. dollars and more than 50 million monthly active users in the United States, and prohibit these platforms from owning and operating businesses that have conflicts of interest.

Democrat Pramila Jayapar’s proposal would allow the federal government to initiate a lawsuit to force the four major technology companies to sell businesses deemed “conflicts of interest.” This will mean that Amazon and other technology giants need to be split, and all such companies may face splits due to non-compliance.

Jayapar said that it is impossible to believe that large technology companies will self-supervise, even if the federal supervision is strengthened, it may not be enough, so it must be forced to spin-off. In an interview, he pointed out: “This is not only about Amazon, but also about the monopoly power of the four major technology companies. For companies that operate on multiple platforms, conflicts of interest and business competition, use it in a way that suppresses competition. Power is an irresistible impulse.”

In addition, he also mentioned the dominance of Google and Facebook in advertising platforms. These two companies swallowed most of the online advertising revenue and accelerated the decline of newspapers and other local news organizations.

Ian Murray, a senior researcher with the American Competitive Enterprise Association, said these measures may mean that large platforms will need to close their app stores, such as selling “blank phones” without any apps, or spinning off their mobile phone divisions.

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Earlier, there were reports that under an antitrust bill, Amazon would be forced to sell its high-value logistics service department.

Tech giants step up lobbying to boycott

According to several foreign media reports, executives, lobbyists, more than a dozen think tanks, and propaganda groups paid by technology companies flocked to the congressional office to call and e-mail congressmen and their staff, saying that if these When ideas become law, they will have terrible consequences for the industry and the country.

“The New York Times” reported that Apple CEO Tim Cook personally called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other members of Congress, asking them to fight back on these bills. The New York Times quoted five people familiar with the matter as saying that Cook warned Pelosi that these bills, if passed “hurriedly”, would disrupt Apple’s lucrative services and harm consumers. According to a person familiar with the matter, Pelosi asked Cook to “determine specific policy objections to these measures.” According to reports, spokesman Pelosi also refuted Cook.

The US Consumer News and Business Channel reported that Google and Amazon accused lawmakers of harming small businesses. Amazon and Google called on the Judiciary Committee to make concessions to this legislation on the 22nd local time.

Google’s vice president of government affairs and public policy, Mark Isakowitz, said in a statement that the company does not oppose the new regulation, but warned that “these bills require us to reduce the quality of services and prevent us from providing access to hundreds of millions of Americans. The important function of this. All of this will greatly undermine America’s technological leadership, undermine the connection between small businesses and consumers, and cause serious privacy and security issues.”

Amazon’s vice president of public policy Brian Hussman also believes that this will have a major negative impact on consumers and small and medium-sized companies selling on the platform. “More than 500,000 US small and medium-sized enterprises make a living through Amazon’s market. Without Amazon’s customers, these third-party sellers will find it difficult to establish a reputation for their business and earn considerable income.” He also said that it may ultimately improve consumers’ price. He said, “The committee has moved too fast in advancing these bills.”

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“Antitrust laws should promote competition and protect consumers, rather than penalize successful American companies,” a Facebook spokesperson said. These bills underestimate fierce competition in the technology sector, including competition from foreign companies. The proposed bill does not solve the ever-changing challenges of the consumer Internet.

Industry groups supported by technology companies have also stated that this will prevent these companies from operating popular consumer services and ultimately harm small businesses and entrepreneurs. The members of the industry association Technology Network Organization (TechNet) include these four giants. On the 21st, the association wrote to the Judicial Committee, requesting the committee to hold a hearing. TechNet and more than a dozen other advocacy groups also signed a letter warning the two bills proposed by the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Anti-Monopoly Subcommittee and Representatives David Cicillin and Jayapar of the negative impact on the consumer service industry. .

Another group opposed to one of the bills is the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), whose members include several technology companies or their venture capital departments. NVCA stated that it opposes one of the new bills, which will shift the burden of proof to the dominant platform to show that the new merger will not violate antitrust laws. Judging from the current situation, the government must prove that a transaction reduces competition and harms consumers. Some law enforcement advocates say that under current case law, these transactions are difficult to conduct effectively. The NVCA warns that start-ups will be the ones affected by such laws.

Some antitrust experts believe that there are obstacles to the implementation of the antitrust bill. The biggest obstacle is the judiciary. Whether it is to break the monopoly or stop the acquisition, the law enforcement must win the case in court. None of this is easy.

Some investment bankers expect that the structure of large technology companies will not be subject to major threats.


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