Report: Big Tech Antitrust Bills Could Hurt Small Businesses

Antitrust efforts are gaining traction on Capitol Hill, and tech giants Google and Amazon stated those efforts are likely to hurt smaller businesses, CNBC reported.

“As many groups and companies have observed, the bills would require us to degrade our services and prevent us from offering important features used by hundreds of millions of Americans,” Google Vice President of Government Affairs and Public Policy Mark Isakowitz said, per CNBC. “This would all dramatically undermine US technology leadership, damage the way small businesses connect with consumers, and raise serious privacy and security concerns. We respectfully recommend that these consequences receive more thoughtful consideration before Congress takes action.”

There are six bills up for consideration, according to CNBC. Two of them could lead to break-ups or at least structural changes in the companies as they cite prohibitions on business types with conflicts of interest or rules against discriminatory business practices.

Some of the others would bolster the strength of regulators in antitrust proceedings by making the burden of proof in merger cases fall on the dominant platform, raising filing fees, and allowing state attorneys general more prominent voices in those types of cases, CNBC reported.

In addition, another bill would let customers take their personal data with them and make it easier for customers to switch platforms, according to CNBC.

Those bills only apply to platforms with over US$600 billion in market value and 50 million monthly active users in the US. That would make it so only the biggest companies are affected, but even so, companies have warned that passing the regulations could end up rippling outward and affecting customers’ lives.