6 bills to rein in Big Tech market power hurtle forward in US Congress
Six bills taking aim at the Big Tech market power
are hurtling forward in the US Congress with
bipartisan support even as a House panel has pushed forward an ambitious
legislative package that seeks to rein in Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple by
targeting their ownership of mighty online platforms in combination with other
lines of business that kill competition.
The bills moved forward after a 12-hour all nighter debate,
especially over features which would require online platforms to allow users to
communicate across competitor services.
Lawmakers closed shop at 5 a.m. on Thursday on the East Coast.
Supporters of the bills argue that the proposed changes will hand
consumers power over how their personal data is extracted and juiced by
businesses which rely on these data to drive their predictive models and
profits.
"With this package of historic legislation, we have the
opportunity to take control of our own destiny to be a global leader in
developing rules of the road for the digital economy," Judiciary Committee
chair Jerry Nadler said.
"We cannot be complacent and we cannot delay."
These developments come barely a week after President Joe Biden
appointed strident Big Tech critic Lina
Khan to head the Federal Trade Commission in a sign of a tougher stance against
technology companies which have seeped into society in remarkable ways.
Khan played a crucial role in the sweeping, 15-month long
investigation of the tech giants' market power.
Listed below are the six bills that now enter what is likely to be
a long slog through Congress
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