Democrats in the U.S. Congress could introduce 10-plus bills involving antitrust concerns, according to a report from 9to5Mac. That could be an alternative to one, giant all-encompassing bill.
According to Rep. David Cicilline of Rhode Island, the bills might make it harder for tech giants to lobby against reforms, 9to5Mac reported, citing Axios. Cicilline said he didn’t want to give a big target for the tech companies to fight against.
Rather, his goal will be to craft a number of smaller bills to be ready by May, according to the report. He said that will achieve two goals: to find common ground between Democrats and Republicans on the issues and to make it harder for companies like Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google to quickly rally defenses against bills they don’t like.
The smaller amounts of bills might help with allowing for less-concentrated opposition, the report stated. For example, a bill targeting the way app stores operate could draw opposition only from one or two of the Big Tech operators.
The President Joe Biden administration has been noted to be potentially less friendly to Big Tech and antitrust concerns. Tim Wu, a noted critic of Big Tech, was named special assistant to the president for technology and competition policy as of March 5. Wu’s record includes being a professor at Columbia University, being senior enforcement council for the New York Attorney General, and senior advisor at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Lawsuits have been cropping up against Big Tech over monopoly concerns, with some like “Mr. Sweepy” saying Google’s ad practices almost bankrupted him. The business owner, of website Sweepstakes Today, said Google’s practices made the company’s revenue drop off drastically. The case is one of many, including several state and federal ones in the U.S. and some overseas.
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