Lawmakers vow to tackle antitrust laws for tech giants
to the whole economy, but rather that we should implement a scalpel-like approach to big tech,” he said.
Democrats are looking to capitalize on control of Congress to pass antitrust reform in response to evidence that industries across the U.S. economy have grown more concentrated, with many markets suffering from signs of declining competition. Competition policy is increasingly seen as a mechanism to combat economic woes such as income inequality and stagnant wages.
In the Senate, Democrats led by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-minn. introduced legislation earlier this month that would clamp down on mergers by making it easier for antitrust enforcers to stop deals.
Hal Singer, an antitrust economist, told lawmakers there is an “urgent need” to reform competition laws.
“Recent developments imply that certain platforms have accumulated so much economic and political power that they may not be governable, which militates in favor of cutting them down in size,” he said.
As Congress pursues legislative fixes, federal antitrust enforcers and state attorneys general across the country are pressing ahead with lawsuits against Google and Facebook that accuse the companies of violating antitrust laws. The complaint against Facebook filed by the Federal Trade Commission and states led by New York seeks to break up the company by unwinding its acquisitions of Instagram and Whatsapp.
There was Republican and Democratic support for a proposal known as interoperability that would require tech platforms to give competitors access to their networks, similar to the way mobile networks work with one another. Critics say the companies can effectively pick winners and losers in their markets by granting or denying access as they please.
Other measures backed by witnesses included more funding for U.S. antitrust enforcers, rules preventing them from discriminating against rivals on their platforms and a special tribunal that could decide antitrust complaints more quickly than traditional courts.