House Panel Says Tech Giants Hold Monopoly Power, Seeks to Break Them Up

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A House panel led by Democrats concluded that tech giants Google, Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) hold a “monopoly power” in the digital markets and recommended significant changes including strengthening antitrust laws and enforcement.

On Tuesday, the House Judiciary Committee’s Antitrust Subcommittee released a report containing the findings of its more than 16 months investigation into the current condition of competition in the digital markets.

The House panel conducted seven congressional hearings and collected extensive evidence of almost 1.3 million documents from Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Amazon as well as from third parties. It also obtained testimonies from the tech giant’s CEOs including Sundar Pichai, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and Tim Cook.

The tech giants captured dominant control over key segments of the digital economy. Google has a monopoly over search and advertising, Facebook over social networking, Amazon over e-commerce, while Apple over the mobile operating system and mobile app store markets. To maintain their dominance, these tech giants engaged in anticompetitive business practices, according to the panel.

Tech giant’s monopoly power reduces consumer choices and weakens democracy

Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple “differ in important ways” but their business practices have common problems.