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Documents: House Antitrust Subcommittee proposes five bills to rein in big tech

Justin Hendrix / Jun 11, 2021

The House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee, chaired by David N. Cicilline (RI-01) today announced five proposed bills to "restore competition to digital marketplace and rein in largest tech platforms."

“Right now, unregulated tech monopolies have too much power over our economy. They are in a unique position to pick winners and losers, destroy small businesses, raise prices on consumers, and put folks out of work," said Chairman Cicilline in a statement.

“Big Tech has abused its dominance in the marketplace to crush competitors, censor speech, and control how we see and understand the world,” said the lead Republican on the Committee, Ranking Member Ken Buck (CO-04).

Here are the bills:

  • The “American Innovation and Choice Online Act” to "prohibit discriminatory conduct by dominant platforms, including a ban on self-preferencing and picking winners and losers online," sponsored by Chairman Cicilline and co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Lance Gooden (TX-05).

  • The “Platform Competition and Opportunity Act” to prohibit "acquisitions of competitive threats by dominant platforms, as well acquisitions that expand or entrench the market power of online platforms," sponsored by U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (NY-08) and co-sponsored by Ranking Member Buck.

  • The “Ending Platform Monopolies Act” to eliminate "the ability of dominant platforms to leverage their control over across multiple business lines to self-preference and disadvantage competitors in ways that undermine free and fair competition," sponsored by U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) and co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Lance Gooden (TX-05).

  • The “Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act”, which "updates filing fees for mergers for the first time in two decades to ensure that Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission have the resources they need to aggressively enforce the antitrust laws," sponsored by U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse (CO-02) and co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Victoria Spartz (IN-05).

Authors

Justin Hendrix
Justin Hendrix is CEO and Editor of Tech Policy Press, a new nonprofit media venture concerned with the intersection of technology and democracy. Previously, he was Executive Director of NYC Media Lab. He spent over a decade at The Economist in roles including Vice President, Business Development & ...

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