Lengthy debate moves Big Tech antitrust bills ahead

WASHINGTON: The US House judiciary committee advanced a bill to prevent companies like Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Alphabet’s Google from advantaging their own products, a measure that critics warned could complicate the use of Apple’s own apps on its iPhone or shopping on Amazon.

The legislation was the fifth bill out of six being taken up by the committee in a session that ran for nearly 20 hours into early Thursday morning, before breaking until later in the day. The measure, sponsored by antitrust subcommittee Chair David Cicilline, advanced on a narrowly bipartisan 23-21 vote.

The marathon session featured recurring clashes over whether software giant Microsoft would be subject to the committee’s four bills focused on the biggest tech companies. The criteria for a “covered platform” in those four proposals are based on market capitalisation, monthly users and whether other businesses depend on the company’s services.

The extensive back and forth throughout Wednesday into dawn Thursday featured debate about antitrust principles, content moderation, freedom of speech and even how legislation should define a foreign adversary. These discussions didn’t fall along party lines, and in some cases showed disagreement among Democrats and found Republicans pitted against each other.

The four tech-focused bills are tailored to affect just a handful of large companies, including Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google and possibly Microsoft.

The five bills approved so far received bipartisan support - a testament to the widespread anger in Washington at how the biggest tech companies have expanded their economic and political power unchecked over the last few decades.

Tech trade groups have lashed out at the legislation, arguing that it will diminish consumer choice, slow innovation and hurt small businesses.