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action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /home4/scienrds/scienceandnerds/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6114Source: https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2022\/7\/19\/23270400\/facebook-google-amazon-apple-antitrust-house-judiciary-investigation-report<\/a> New internal documents<\/a> released Tuesday detail how three of Big Tech\u2019s most prominent companies favored their own products as a means of stamping out competition. Their release comes as lawmakers push to approve stronger antitrust legislation by the end of the year. <\/p>\n The documents were obtained by the House Judiciary Committee as part of its lengthy investigation into anticompetitive behavior from Amazon, Apple, Google, and Facebook\u2019s parent company Meta. The investigation wrapped up in 2020, but the newly published emails, memos, and reports provide new evidence backing the committee\u2019s calls to advance tougher competition rules for the tech industry.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is time for Congress to act,\u201d Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI), chair of the antitrust subcommittee, said in a Tuesday statement. <\/p>\n Specifically, the documents show how Amazon and Google pressured independent sellers and smartphone manufacturers to favor their own products and platforms over those of their competitors. In a January 2014 email, one Google executive raised concerns over a potential new Samsung service<\/a> that could compete with the company\u2019s \u201ccore search experience.\u201d In email chains dating as far back as 2009, Amazon executives are shown debating whether to restrict a competitor\u2019s ability to advertise on their site<\/a>. Amazon later acquired the competitor, Diapers.com, in a deal House investigators claim helped the e-commerce giant secure its market dominance. <\/p>\n In another email, Google executives discuss how Amazon\u2019s involvement changed the market for personal voice assistants. \u201cAmazon has changed the dynamics here,\u201d the heavily redacted email reads. \u201cAmazon has a built-in incentive to partner with Alexa since they will pull you from their store if you don\u2019t support it.\u201d<\/p>\n Also included is a long-discussed Facebook memo<\/a> called \u201cPossible End States for the Family of Apps.\u201d First reported by The Information <\/em>in 2019<\/a>, the memo describes a \u201ctipping point\u201d at which users would begin using other Meta-owned apps, like Instagram and WhatsApp, more than its core Facebook platform. The 2018 memo was written for CEO Mark Zuckerberg explaining the ways in which the company could mitigate Instagram and WhatsApp\u2019s growth so as to not overtake Facebook\u2019s dominance.<\/p>\n \u201cWhatsApp and Facebook are coexisting as Broadcast Sharing Apps,\u201d the memo reads. \u201cIt remains unclear Whether Instagram and Facebook can coexist\u2026It seems unlikely that three Sharing Apps can coexist.\u201d<\/p>\n The Tuesday documents were released alongside the committee\u2019s final report describing the findings of its investigation and legislative solutions to the competition concerns they discovered. Lawmakers argued that the lack of competition in the tech industry has resulted in worse online products over time. No Republicans co-signed the report\u2019s recommendations, sending a signal that it may be more difficult for Democrats to push through antitrust reform this year. <\/p>\n \u201cThe harm from radical antitrust legislation would put the United States at a global disadvantage and leave Americans worse off,\u201d Carl Szabo, vice president and general counsel for the tech industry group NetChoice, said in a Tuesday statement. \u201cIts reach would extend far beyond just digital markets: to consumers of every business, in every industry, in every state.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, antitrust advocates have continued to pressure lawmakers and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to support bills banning tech platforms<\/a> from favoring their own products. Antitrust scholars and the Consumer Federation of America urged the Senate to pass the bipartisan American Innovation and Choice Online Act last week.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom Amazon and Facebook to Google and Apple, there\u2019s no question that these unregulated tech giants have become too big to care and too powerful to ever put people over profits,\u201d Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) said in a Tuesday statement. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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