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News > World

US Lawmakers Call For Splitting Up Amazon, Facebook, Google

  • Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, California, U.S.

    Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, California, U.S. | Photo: EFE

Published 15 April 2021
Opinion

Lawmaker Cicilline pointed out that these companies keep a monopoly in significant sectors of the U.S. economy. 

The U.S. House Judiciary Committee on Thursday approved a report requesting Congress to split Amazon, Facebook, and Google. It argues that these companies took advantage of their market dominance to eradicate their competitors.

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First released in Oct. 2020, the report was prepared after investigating the market position of those companies for 16 months. It found that U.S. antitrust agencies had failed to limit the dominance of Amazon, Facebook, and Google.

The report recommends to Congress measures such as enacting laws to force these companies to separate their Internet platforms from other lines of business. It also calls for changes to U.S. antitrust laws.

While this investigation does not carry immediate legal consequences, lawmakers hope its findings will encourage policymakers to take action.

In March, a bipartisan group of lawmakers led by Democrat Amy Klobuchar and Republican David Cicilline introduced a bill to increase media outlets' bargaining power against platforms like Google and Facebook.

Media outlets accuse these companies of using their news to attract users without sharing a sufficient amount of advertising revenue. Now that the House Judiciary Committee approved the report, Cicilline and Klobuchar expect their bill to be debated.

"Amazon, Apple, Google, and Facebook maintain a monopoly in significant sectors of our economy. That monopoly must end," Cicilline said.

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