Clamour Grows Against Big Tech Cos Like Facebook Over Monopoly Tactics

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Summary

• Facebook resorted to acquiring rival firms to eliminate competition, officials contend.
• Lawmakers seek bipartisan support for giving more teeth to antitrust law.
• Facebook says SC precedent does not require it to give other firms access to its platform.

Big tech companies have often been accused of muscling their way to grab a larger piece of profit or usurping small firms for dominance. Now, US lawmakers are contemplating to rein-in the money power and influence these companies use to knock out their smaller rivals in the game.

House Democratic and Republican members are discussing bolstering the antitrust law through bipartisan support in the coming days. They will be looking at placing better safeguards against acquisitions by companies for monopolistic practices, enhance regulatory measures to check anti-competitive behavior, as well as ways to separate their different lines of businesses if the need arises.

The development comes in the wake of a fresh antitrust lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission and the state attorneys general against Facebook over its alleged stifling of competition. The officials alleged that Facebook resorted to buying rival firms to eliminate competition.

Seeking to dismiss the motions in the US District Court in Washington on Wednesday, Facebook claimed that neither its users were charged more, nor their output or quality declined due to its actions. Facebook contended that FTC failed clearly define the market it allegedly dominates.

The company is also accused of cutting off access of third-party developers to its platform to eliminate rising, independent tech firms from completion. In response, Facebook stated that the US Supreme Court precedent does not require it to give other firms access to its platform, noting that the government enforcers do not understand the highly competitive nature of their business.

Pic Credit: Pixabay

What Lawmakers Plan To Do?

Lawmakers on Thursday reaffirmed their commitment to ensuring a level-playing field for all companies in the US, failing which, they noted, consumers would be seriously harmed, including their right to privacy. Senator Amy Klobuchar urged the panel members discussing changes in the antitrust law to respond firmly with strong legislation to the actions of the tech giants.

She proposed several measures including higher fines and more teeth in the law to challenge mergers and unethical business practices that threaten competition. Several Republican members voiced support for a strong law. Republican Senator Josh Hawley criticized Amazon for its supposed self-preferencing practice to promote its own products over others on proprietary platforms.

The panel members also supported the idea of introducing a bipartisan proposal to give news outlets more bargaining power over tech companies, like Google and Facebook, using their content. The lawmakers worry that the monopoly tactics of big companies have left consumers with little choice.

Meanwhile, several big companies are also waging a parallel battle against each other in the federal courts, including Facebook, Google, and Microsoft, over some of the same issues.

 Pic Credit: Pixabay.

Facebook’s Response

Meanwhile, Facebook said that all its ad revenues come from an extremely competitive market about which the commission has little knowledge. Moreover, the commission had no objection when the deals were signed for the purchase of WhatsApp and Instagram in 2012 and 2014.

Reacting to the developments, New York Attorney General Letitia James reiterated that Facebook is wrong and which is why many states have joined hands in the latest bipartisan lawsuit against the company.

The commission is due to respond to Facebook’s submission in April.