Big Tech pushes back against bipartisan House antitrust bill

Tech giants that could be broken up under a series of new antitrust bills are speaking out against the measures as lawmakers are set to debate them on Wednesday.

Amazon and Google released statements on Tuesday opposing the bills. Apple and Facebook, which were also targets of the House Judiciary Committee’s investigation into digital markets, have yet to put out their own statements.

But industry groups backed by the tech firms have also pushed back on the legislation, arguing it would prevent the companies from operating popular consumer services and ultimately hurt small businesses and entrepreneurs.

The six bills set to be considered at Wednesday’s markup, where lawmakers will discuss the proposals and any amendments before deciding whether they should advance, would have a profound impact on the tech industry and possibly beyond it.

Amazon and Google called for the Judiciary Committee to pump the breaks on the legislation, which is headed to a full committee markup in an unusually short period of time — less than two weeks since most were introduced.

Google VP of government affairs and public policy Mark Isakowitz said in a statement the company isn’t opposed to new regulation, but warned the bills on the table would “break” popular consumer services.

“As many groups and companies have observed, the bills would require us to degrade our services and prevent us from offering important features used by hundreds of millions of Americans,” he said. “This would all dramatically undermine US technology leadership, damage the way small businesses connect with consumers, and raise serious privacy and security concerns. We respectfully recommend that these consequences receive more thoughtful consideration before Congress takes action.”

Amazon VP of public policy Brian Huseman also warned of “significant negative effects” on Amazon consumers and small- and medium-sized businesses that sell on the platform. Amazon is still reviewing the bills, he added.

“More than a half million American small- and medium-sized businesses make a living via Amazon’s marketplace, and without access to Amazon’s customers, it will be much harder for these third-party sellers to create awareness for their business and earn a comparable income,” he said in a statement.

“Removing the selection of these sellers from Amazon’s store would also create less price competition for products, and likely end up increasing prices for consumers,” Hseman said.” The Committee is moving unnecessarily fast in pushing these bills forward. We encourage Chairman Cicilline and committee members to slow down, postpone the markup, and thoroughly vet the language in the bills for unintended negative consequences.”

“Antitrust laws should promote competition and protect consumers, not punish successful American companies,” a Facebook spokesperson said. “The surest way to address the challenges facing today’s internet is to tackle the areas of greatest concern to people like content moderation, election integrity, and privacy – not attempt to dismantle the products and services people depend on. These bills underestimate the unrelenting competition within the tech sector, including competition from foreign companies such as TikTok, WeChat, and Alibaba. The proposed bills aren’t a solution to the ever-changing challenges of the consumer internet; they are a poison pill for America’s tech industry at a time our economy can least afford it.”

Apple did not provide comment on the bills.

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[brewswillis]

Screw Congress, stick it to them Big Tech! Vote em all out, term limits!

[kaleidoscopesoul]

Oh no poor big tech, they could lose money ;(

[hallammd]

It US govt responsibility when US company failed cover to million of people

[shanethorson]

1st Amendment rights or we break you big techers into little tiny pieces. 2022 is your final answer... Choose your next word's wisely big tech

[TheMjoDoj]

Ooof. If FAANG sees a sell off big enough trigger margin calls, Archegos is going to look like a garden sprinkler compared to the hurricane that will hit the market.

[Wongseifu]

So they tcannot promote their own product on their own service over their competition. How does that make sense exactly?

[joonyongpark]

비영리 파산재단에대한 재난지원금을 본원통화로 지급하고 지급에대한 대상은 민주적 자율회의로 결정하도록 권장..

[datazuckerberg]

On one hand we may not like monopoly. But when government tries to break up a company that’s fascism.