Do you really Bing?

7 October 2020 By Jennifer Saba Follow @jennifersaba

A U.S. Congress report accuses Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google of abusing market power. Trustbusting recommendations include breakups and a merger ban. Any actual reforms will surely be heavily diluted, but the four giants now have a 450-page guide for their counterattacks.

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Context News

A U.S. House of Representatives panel released a report on Oct. 6 detailing what it called anticompetitive behavior by Amazon.com, Apple, Facebook, and Alphabet unit Google.

The committee, led by Democratic Congressman David Cicilline, accuses the companies of abusing their power by charging exorbitant fees, imposing oppressive contract terms and extracting valuable data.

“To put it simply, companies that once were scrappy, underdog startups that challenged the status quo have become the kinds of monopolies we last saw in the era of oil barons and railroad tycoons,” the report said.

The report recommends a raft of ways to restore competition in the digital economy, including forcing companies to break up, banning future mergers, requiring interoperability with rivals' platforms, strengthening antitrust laws and beefing up enforcement.

Context News

A U.S. House of Representatives panel released a report on Oct. 6 detailing what it called anticompetitive behavior by Amazon.com, Apple, Facebook, and Alphabet unit Google.

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