From the IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committeee:
The IAJGS Records Access Alert has been posting about antitrust legislation focused on big technology for a while, in Australia, Europe and North America. While big technology is not strictly genealogical, we can’t do our genealogy without the search engines, social media etc. so it is very relevant when legislation is introduced that will address these platforms.
Five members of the House of Representatives introduced bills targeting Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google. The legislation is aimed at restraining the power of Big Tech and staving off corporate consolidation. If enacted the bills would be the most ambitious update to monopoly laws in decades.
The proposals would make it easier to break up businesses that used their dominance in one are to get a strong hold in another and would create hurdles for acquisitions of nascent rivals and would empower regulators with more funds to police companies.
In recent years there has been broad bipartisan support to curb the dominance of the biggest technology companies. Legislators are pointing to the dominance of a handful of firms as a root cause of spread of disinformation, in equality in labor and wages and haphazard rules across the internet.
Representative David Cicilline, the Democratic chair of the antitrust panel, is an original co-sponsor of the bills, as is the antirust panel top Republican, Ken Buck. The chair of the Judiciary Committee, Jerrold Nadler, also sponsored the bills. Cicilline’s press release may be read at: https://cicilline.house.gov/press-release/house-lawmakers-release-anti-monopoly-agenda-stronger-online-economy-opportunity
One of the laws would make it illegal for a company such a Google which has a dominant search engine to own another business that relied on online research. The company would not be permitted to favor results for its YouTube video service under the proposed new law and could be required to spin off the video business if it favored it over competitors. The bill is entitled The American Innovation and Choice Online Act. The bill is sponsored by Chairman Cicilline (D-RI-01) and co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Lance Gooden (R-TX-05). The unnumbered bill text may be read at: https://cicilline.house.gov/sites/cicilline.house.gov/files/documents/American%20Innovation%20and%20Choice%20Online%20Act%20-%20Bill%20Text.pdf
A second measure would make it illegal in most cases for a platform to give preference to its own products on its platform with a hefty fine of 30% of the U.S. revenue of the affected business if they violate the measure. The tech giants face comparable challenges to their energy throughout the globe, dealing with a number of antitrust investigations in Europe and new laws in Australia and India to curb their energy. The bill is sponsored by U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY-08) and co-sponsored by Ranking Member Buck (R-CO-04). The Platform Competition and Opportunity Act (yet unnumbered) may be read at: https://cicilline.house.gov/sites/cicilline.house.gov/files/documents/Platform%20Competition%20and%20Opportunity%20Act%20-%20Bill%20Text%20%281%29.pdf
Another measure bans platforms from owning subsidiaries that operate on their platform if those subsidiaries compete with other businesses - potentially forcing the Big Tech firms to sell assets. The bill is sponsored by U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA-07) and co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Lance Gooden (R-TX-05). This bill is entitled, The Ending Platform Monopolies Act, and may be read (yet unnumbered) at: https://cicilline.house.gov/sites/cicilline.house.gov/files/documents/Ending%20Platform%20Monopolies%20-%20Bill%20Text.pdf
A fourth measure promotes competition online by lowering barriers to entry and switching costs for businesses and consumers through interoperability and data portability requirements. It is called The Augmenting Compatibility and Competition by Enabling Service Switching (ACCESS) This bill is sponsored by U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D- PA-05) and co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT-04) and may be read (yet unnumbered) at: https://cicilline.house.gov/sites/cicilline.house.gov/files/documents/ACCESS%20Act%20-%20Bill%20Text%20%281%29.pdf
The fifth bill updates filing fees for mergers for the first time in two decades to ensure that Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission have the resources they need to aggressively enforce the antitrust laws. It is called The Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act and is sponsored by U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO-02) and co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN-05). It and may be read (yet unnumbered) at: https://cicilline.house.gov/sites/cicilline.house.gov/files/documents/Merger%20Filing%20Fee%20Modernization%20Act%20of%202021%20-%20Bill%20Text%20%281%29.pdf
The above bills will all be referred to the House Judiciary Committee. The House Judiciary committee is chaired by Jerry Nadler (D-NY-10) since January 2019 and the ranking member is Jim Jordan(R-OH-04) since March 12 2020. The members of the Judiciary Committee may be found at: https://judiciary.house.gov/about/members.htm
"From Amazon and Facebook to Google and Apple, it is clear that these unregulated tech giants have become too big to care," said U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal, a Washington state Democrat and sponsor of this measure.
The pro-business U.S. Chamber of Commerce said it "strongly opposes" the bills' approach. "Bills that target specific companies, instead of focusing on business practices, are simply bad policy ... and could be ruled unconstitutional," the Chamber's Neil Bradley said in a statement.
In contrast, Robert Weissman, president of advocacy group Public Citizen, said "Big Tech’s unchecked growth and dominance have led to incredible abuses of power that have hurt consumers, workers, small businesses and innovation. That unchecked power ends now."
To read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/11/technology/big-tech-antitrust-bills.html and
It is too soon for bill numbers to have been assigned. One will have to monitor Congress.gov at https://www.congress.gov/ for the numbered bills. As they were only introduced on June 11 I would wait until later next week to determine if numbers have been assigned.
To read the previous postings about antitrust, Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, US antitrust legislation, EU antitrust legislation and more, go to the archives of the IAJGS Records Access Alert at: http://lists.iajgs.org/mailman/private/records-access-alerts/. You must be registered to access the archives. To register go to: http://lists.iajgs.org/mailman/listinfo/records-access-alerts and follow the instructions to enter your email address, full name and which genealogical organization with whom you are affiliated You will receive an email response that you have to reply to or the subscription will not be finalized.
Jan Meisels Allen Chairperson, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee
