Facebook, Amazon, Google, Apple 'Abused Monopoly Power', Alleges Lawmakers from US House of Representatives in New Report

Washington, October 7: Lawmakers from the US House of Representatives accused Facebook, Amazon, Google and Apple of "abuses of monopoly power" in a 449-page report released Tuesday. The House of Representatives said that the monopolies abuse their market dominance, and called for sweeping changes to antitrust laws and enforcement, which could lead to breakups of the giant firms.

The report said the amount of power these tech companies hold have resulted in "less innovation, fewer choices for consumers, and weakened democracy." US Panel to Grill Facebook, Google, Twitter CEOs on October 28 Over Section 230 of Communications Decency Act.

House of Representatives Says Big Tech Firms are 'Monopolies'

According to a Cnet report, Amazon disputed the findings of the report and called the subcommittee's thinking "flawed." Facebook said in a statement that it was an "American success story" and does have competition. Apple and Google, on the other hand, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The report called out Facebook for purchasing some of its biggest competitors to "maintain and expand its dominance" and competing with its own products.

Google, on the other hand, has been accused of hurting competitors by prioritising its own products, like shopping ads or local business listings, over the listings of rivals in its search results.  The report stated that Amazon was found to have monopoly power over most of the millions of smaller sellers it hosts on its site.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 07, 2020 07:50 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).