US House panel seeks breakup of Amazon, Google and Apple

AHouse panel led by Democrats investigating competition in the technology sector is poised to propose sweeping reforms to block giants such as Amazon.com and Apple from both owning marketplaces and selling their own products on them, according to a critique of the recommendations by one Republican member of the subcommittee.

The critique and the panel’s report are still drafts and the contents of both could change. It’s not clear which members will endorse the report, whose release has been delayed because of lastminute information regarding Facebook, CNBC reported earlier. The report was expected this week, but it’s been pushed back, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The recommendations, which would represent the most dramatic overhaul of competition law in decades if approved, are the result of a

yearlong investigation by the House antitrust panel led by Democratic Representative

David Cicilline. That probe is coming to its conclusion as federal and state antitrust enforcers are also investigating Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Facebook.

Cicilline’s recommendations would include what he has called a Glass-steagall law for technology platforms, according to the draft discussion paper from Republican Representative Ken Buck of Colorado, which was reported on earlier by Politico and obtained by Bloomberg. Buck said that recommendation and some others would be “non-starters” for the GOP. Glass-steagall refers to the Depression-era law separating commercial and investment banking.

Cicilline’s proposal would prohibit tech companies from entering different lines of business and amount to a breakup of the companies, according to Buck. Amazon, for example, would be prevented from selling its own products on its marketplace, while Google couldn’t own both the world’s biggest search engine and Youtube. And Apple would be barred from owning the App Store and offering its own apps.