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.
'Risky' path
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.
The measures come following a 16-month investigation in the
House led by antitrust subcommittee chairman David Cicilline which concluded
that tech giants were abusing their dominant positions and had too much power
in the economy.
Christopher Sagers, a Cleveland State University professor
specializing in antitrust law, said the package represents a radical approach
to dealing with tech firms' growing power.
The bills "would make the platforms operate more like
airlines or utility companies, which have to provide their services to anyone
who wants them, and not give anyone (or themselves) discriminatory
advantages," Sagers said.
"These laws also could bring an end to some products
that are very popular," he added.
"I'm not sure how Apple could continue even selling its
own mobile software, for example, if iOS devices or the App Store were
denominated 'covered platforms,' and there could be consequences for products
like Amazon Prime, Google Maps, books digitized in the Google Books project,
and who knows what else."
But Sagers said the impact might not be bad in the long run
because "markets rearrange themselves and new competitors turn up to
replace them... But it is to say that these laws seem risky and I find their
consequences hard to predict."
Blank smartphones?
Other analysts offered stark warnings against unforeseen
consequences of upending the massively successful firms on which many consumers
rely in their daily lives.
Iain Murray, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise
Institute, said the measure might mean a firm such as Apple would need to shut
its App Store, ship "blank phones" without any apps, or spin off its
phone division.
"For the most part, the average consumer will see her
user experience severely degraded," he said in a statement.
The legislation mirrors Europe's Digital Markets Act and is
likely to "distort" competition, according to Aurelien Portuese of
the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a think tank which often
reflects the industry's views.
Portuese said the legislation comes amid a wave of
resentment toward Big Tech but may ultimately hurt consumers by allowing less
efficient firms to gain in the marketplace.
"Consumers may no longer be able to benefit from large
companies' economies of scale," Portuese said in a statement.
The legislative package "reveals a profound lack of
practical understanding of how the tech industry operates, and needs to
operate, in order to remain competitive, relevant, profitable and innovative,"
said analyst Olivier Blanchard at Futurum Research in a blog post.
"Do Big Tech companies hold too much power? You could
argue that, sure.
"But if the objective is to keep very large, very powerful companies in check, Congress could approach the problem by establishing guardrails that protect consumers and competition without taking a wrecking ball to an entire system." -AFP