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New report says tech companies like Facebook, Amazon, and Google have “monopoly powers”

In other news, the sky is blue.

Big tech ceos from facebook, amazon, google, apple
Image: KnowTechie

After a 16-month investigation into big tech companies like Apple, Google, Facebook, and Amazon, the House Judiciary Committee believes it’s time to take a hard look at these companies, as they “enjoy monopoly power” and that changes need to be made to big tech companies.

The 450-page report details quite a few changes the Democratic-led staff believe should be made to keep these companies from exercising overarching power between many different areas.

For example, it suggests that online marketplaces should be independently-owned and not part of the main service (see Facebook Marketplace). It also says that giants like Amazon give preference to its own products on its marketplace, meaning third-party sellers have a more difficult time getting seen.

The report details different things each big tech company is guilty of doing

Apple – The report suggests that Apple has too much power when it comes to software distribution and its App Store fees. We’ve already seen this pop up in the news recently, with Epic Games, Spotify, and more disputing Apple’s 30% fees.

Amazon – As mentioned above, most of the issues surrounding Amazon deal with how the company promotes its own products over third-party sellers. The report states that this is a conflict of interest.

Google – Complaints against Google probably come as no surprise. Basically, the investigators believe that Google has too much power when it comes to searching for things on the internet. They also note that it can be difficult for users to differentiate between organic and paid search results.

Facebook – No surprises here either, the Democratic-led staff believe Facebook’s playbook of copying other apps, or simply buying them out, threatens other companies.

In general, the report believes all of the companies highlighted here (except maybe Apple) throw their huge bankrolls around too much to acquire other businesses or make similar services that stifle competition.

As for what happens next, well, nothing at the moment. With Congress currently in recess until after the presidential elections, this report will hopefully be picked back up in November once that ends.

What do you think? Do you feel like these big tech companies have too much power? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Former KnowTechie editor.

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