In a House Judiciary Committee report presented to Congress this week, House lawmakers under Democratic leadership found that the practices of the world’s largest technology companies including Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google had exercised and abused their monopoly power, according to a New York Times report.
The report recommends the most sweeping changes to antitrust laws in half a century. The lawmakers said the companies set and often dictated prices and rules for commerce, search, advertising, social networking, and publishing. To correct the abuse of dominant positions, the committee recommendations include restoring competition by effectively breaking up the companies, emboldening the agencies that police market concentration, putting up hurdles for the companies to acquire startups, and reforming antitrust laws.
