Antitrust Fall - - Amazon, Google, Apple, FB

 

TECH POLICY Antitrust Fall

Francis Scialabba

Yesterday, the bipartisan House Judiciary Committee released the results of its 16-month investigation into Big Tech and antitrust concerns. Only the Dems endorsed the report, which found that Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Apple each hold some degree of monopoly power. In case you don't feel like reading 449 pages yourself…  Some emtech takeaways  Two of the problems:  A leading voice assistant platform, for instance, could use insights from successful third-party voice apps to boost its own product, whether by competitive acquisitions or feature integrations.  Dominant companies can currently issue “take-it-or-leave-it” demands to third parties on their platform—like requiring access to a third-party product’s technical details and proprietary data. The (proposed) start of a solution:  Restricting unfair competition between dominant platforms and third parties could help prohibit “self-preferencing” and grant some power to smaller firms.  Interoperability and data portability would benefit both consumers and independent developers—allowing them to transfer info easily between platforms or use it in creating something entirely new.  Bottom line: Both parties generally agree that these tech giants pose a threat to competition, though Republicans released alternative recommendations for fixes. Any of the changes on the table would, in theory, help facilitate greater tech innovation and competition.