Radical overhauls to the antitrust laws, stringent enforcement, and restricting acquisitions are some of the recommendations that the United States’ House Judiciary Committee's report on Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google has made to limit the dominance of Big Tech in the country. The report has criticised these companies for buying off potential rivals, giving preference to their own products, and abusing their dominance against sellers and workers. Each of these companies has “expanded and exploited their power of the marketplace in anticompetitive ways” David Cicilline and Jerrod Nadler, chairs of the judiciary committee and the antitrust subcommittee, respectively, said in a joint statement. These firms have "surveilled" other businesses to identify rivals, managing to ape or cut off any possible competition. The firms have exploited their intermediary roles to deepen their dominance, the report scathingly noted. The report lays out several concrete policy recommendations, along with their justification, to prohibit the key activities that led to the dominance of Big Tech. Establish non-discrimination rules to prevent preferential treatment Platforms have given preferential treatment by selectively showing their own products over others on their intermediaries, which is often the only way for others to access markets. For instance, Google has ranked its own content over third-party content even when it was “inferior and less relevant” for users, even forcing websites to lose money. Congress should consider establishing non-discrimination rules to ensure fair competition and promotion innovation online. It would require dominant companies to offer equal terms, including around pricing and access,…
