US House’s antitrust report hints at break-up of Big Tech firms

WASHINGTON: The US House of Representatives antitrust report on Big Tech firms contains a “thinly veiled call to break up” the companies, Republican Congressman Ken Buck said. The House antitrust subcommittee is expected to publish its report this week on Amazon.com Inc, Apple Inc, Facebook Inc and Google owner Alphabet Inc. A Buck representative confirmed to Reuters the authenticity of the draft response, which was first reported by Politico. In the draft, Buck said he shared Democratic concerns about the power of Big Tech firms, with their penchant for “killer acquisitions” to eliminate rivals and self-preferencing in guiding customers to their other products. However, he objected to a plan to require them to delineate a clear “single line of business”. Social media platform Facebook also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, search engine provider Google’s businesses include YouTube and Android, and e-commerce leader Amazon operates a massive cloud computing unit. — Reuters