Six bills taking aim at the Big Tech market power are hurtling forward in the US Congress with bipartisan support even as a House panel has pushed forward an ambitious legislative package
Six bills taking aim at the Big Tech market power are hurtling forward in the US Congress with bipartisan support even as a House panel has pushed forward an ambitious legislative package that seeks to rein in Facebook, Google, Amazon, and Apple by targeting their ownership of mighty online platforms in combination with other lines of business that kill competition.
The bills moved forward after a 12-hour all-nighter debate, especially over features that would require online platforms to allow users to communicate across competitor services.
Lawmakers closed shop at 5 a.m. on Thursday on the East Coast.
Supporters of the bills argue that the proposed changes will hand consumers power over how their personal data is extracted and juiced by businesses that rely on these data to drive their predictive models and profits.
"With this package of historic legislation, we have the opportunity to take control of our own destiny to be a global leader in developing rules of the road for the digital economy," Judiciary Committee chair Jerry Nadler said.
"We cannot be complacent and we cannot delay."
These developments come barely a week after President Joe Biden appointed strident Big Tech critic Lina Khan to head the Federal Trade Commission in a sign of a tougher stance against technology companies that have seeped into society in remarkable ways.
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