Lawmakers hammer out historic antitrust legislation intended to curb their most anti-competitive impulses as big tech companies gobbling up competitors.
According to a new report from The Tech Oversight project, Apple, Amazon, and Meta spent $32 billion on acquisitions in the last year. It is almost certainly less than the true amount tech firms spent since the financial details surrounding large chunks of acquisitions have not been made public. As lawmakers in the House and Senate desperately work to push forward a vote on two pieces of antitrust legislation before the November 2020 elections, the findings come.
Leading tech firms were accused of using their dominance to either capture or kill competitors. The American Innovation and Choice Online Act is supported by a wide range of tech critics and is despised by Big Tech.
According to the report, Amazon spent at least $16 billion on 19 acquisitions over the last three years. At least $11.87 billion was spent byAlphabet to acquire 25 companies. Meta and Apple spent less on acquisitions than the report estimated. It is possible that Apple is ramping up efforts to deliver a long rumored virtual reality headset, as four of the 19 companies it acquired involved virtual or augmented reality.
To curb Big Tech's most predatory practices, passing antitrust legislation is a realistic first step. We need Senate Majority Leader Schumer to fulfill his promise and bring the package to a vote so we can advance the laundry list of legislative items needed to protect businesses, families, and children from companies that have abused and profited at their expense.
In recent months, Big Tech's acquisition plan has been played out most brazenly by Amazon. In less than three months, Amazon announced its intention to acquire a number of companies. The One Medical and iRobot deals are worth more than $5 billion.
In the post-Roe world, the increase in health care and surveillance acquisitions is disgusting and paints a bad picture of what digital competition and privacy will look like. We need to do more than wait for them to self- regulate.
Buying up firms on your own is nothing new. In Big Tech's case, the report claims the companies used their market dominance and deep pockets to choke off innovation, bleed small businesses, and limit consumer choice.
Some of the types of acquisitions laid out in the Oversight Project could stifle competition.
The risk of oligopoly behavior is increased when a merger combines competitors. oligopoly behavior caused by mergers deprives the marketplace of independent decision making centers and warrants intervention.
The Tech Oversight Project is one of the supporters of antitrust legislation that is moving through congress. According to a growing variety of polling, efforts to increase tech regulation enjoy wide bipartisan support.
The benefits large tech companies provide don't outweigh the dangers they pose according to a February Morning Consult survey. More than half of Democrats and 70% of Republicans think Big Tech has a problem with the U.S. economy. More than half of Democrats and half of Republicans support breaking up Big Tech.
Nine months ago, the bills aimed at blocking tech's monopolistic impulses were not even close to becoming laws. The American Innovation and Choice Online Act was supposed to be voted on by the Senate in the summer, but it never happened. Schumer went silent on the topic, which annoyed antitrust activists nationwide. In July, more than a dozen progressive house lawmakers wrote a letter to Schumer, urging him to hold a vote on the bills before the August break. According to recent reports, Schumer decided to sit on the bill due to overestimation of the number of votes in the bag.
Big Tech invested a lot of money to kill the bills in order to slow down. According to a recent analysis, the four big tech companies have spent over $90 million on lobbying in the last two years. According to reports, Amazon spent a record-breaking $4.98 million in lobbying in the second quarter, which ended on June 30.
The time is running out. The bills may never pass if they don't pass before the November elections.
Jesse Lehrich, Accountable Tech's co- founder, said in a June CNBC interview that the less likely Republican members of Congress are going to be to hand Joe Biden bipartisan victories, which underscores the importance of getting this done asap. There is a very small window for these two bills.
Lawmakers speaking in a recent Time report say they don't think Schumer will bring those bills up for a vote in the near future. According to sources speaking in that article, Schumer may be deliberately delaying the bill to avoid making its proponents the sources of Big Tech attacks during their reelection bids, or simply burying the bill down lower on Democrats'voting priorities. Fight for the Future's Executive Director doesn't believe that
This is not about a busy legislative calendar, priorities, or not having the votes, according to Greer. This is about corruption and the influence of big tech in DC.
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