Why the US spanking of Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook will have no consequences (for now)
What emerges from the testimonies given to the Antitrust Commission of the US Chamber which in recent months has sifted through all the alleged market abuse of the four US Big Techs (Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook)
A 449-page report describing dozens of instances in which Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook abused their power, revealing corporate cultures seemingly intent on maintaining dominance over large portions of the internet. The Daily Mail describes the full-bodied volume that collects all the testimonies of the Antitrust Commission of the US Chamber which in recent months has sifted through all the alleged market abuse of the four US Big Techs.
In the dossier there is a bit of everything, continues the Daily Mail : it starts with 'killer' acquisitions to hit rivals with exorbitant charges in commissions to force small businesses into unfavorable contracts "in the name of profit".
"Put simply, companies that were once shoddy and underdog start-ups challenging the status quo have become the kinds of monopolies we last saw in the era of oil barons and railroad tycoons," he says. the report.
A DANGER FOR COMPETITION AND DEMOCRACY
The document, approved by the democratic majority of Congress, focuses on the danger that these companies represent for competition and American democracy by being able to “control access to markets” and being able to determine “winners and losers” in the economy. In short, their domination has diminished the possibilities of choice for consumers, and slowed down innovation and entrepreneurship, also undermining privacy and the strength of the press.
THE RECOMMENDATIONS
Hence the request for interventions starting from a congressional intervention that "should try to force the 'structural separations' of companies and strengthen the application of existing antitrust laws", reads npd.org .
“The recommendations, if implemented, could fundamentally change the way these companies operate. They could, for example, prevent Amazon from selling their products on their marketplace, in direct competition with sellers who depend on the platform to reach customers. Google may be prohibited from using the data that the Android operating system collects about users and other apps to refine its products. Facebook could, in theory, be prevented from acquiring another competitor, after concerns about how it acquired rivals including Instagram and WhatsApp. "
DIFFICULT INTERVENTION NOW WITH PRESIDENTIALS AT THE DOORS
However, the Daily Mail recalls, the report "came within weeks of the presidential election on November 3" and its content "has become increasingly political, an opportunity for Republicans and Democrats to increase their credibility in the fight against the domination of the market by large tech companies. That said, Congress is unlikely to act on the results this year. Ultimately, the report reflects the views of the Democratic majority in the House, and two other reports were to be written by Republican panel members, two sources reported to Reuters.
HOW APPLE, GOOGLE AND FACEBOOK DEFEND THEMSELVES
Meanwhile, the Big Tech called into question have gone on a war footing: "We have always said that control is reasonable and appropriate, but we absolutely disagree with the conclusions reached in this staff report with respect to Apple," he said. the company in a statement sent to USA Today -. Our company does not have a dominant market share in any category in which it operates ”.
Google's statement to USA Today instead found that its free products like the search engine, Maps and Gmail “help millions of Americans and we have invested billions of dollars in research and development to create and improve them. We compete fairly in a competitive industry. We disagree with today's reports, which present outdated and inaccurate allegations of commercial competitors on research and other services. "
Facebook called itself “an American success story,” in a statement to USA Today: “We compete with a wide variety of services with millions, even billions, of people using them. Acquisitions are part of every industry and are just one way we innovate new technologies to deliver more value to people. Regulators have carefully scrutinized each deal and we rightly saw no reason to stop them at that time. "
BIDEN OPENED TO THE STEW HYPOTHESIS
However, the report offers Congress a possible roadmap for action, potentially with a new balance of political power in Congress and a new president next year. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said corporate break-up should be considered. If such measures were mandatory, they could bring the biggest changes to the tech industry since the federal government's historic case against Microsoft nearly 20 years ago, ”USA Today concluded.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/perche-la-sculacciata-usa-ad-amazon-apple-google-e-facebook-non-avra-conseguenze-per-ora/ on Sun, 11 Oct 2020 04:38:12 +0000.