A bill aimed at banning tech giants like Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)'s Google from abusing their market dominance was backed by the United States' Department of Justice (DOJ), the first fully-fledged support from the Biden administration for an anti-trust measure.
The DOJ accused large digital platforms of being a threat to open markets, abusing their monopolies, squeezing profits from competitors and posing a risk to consumers by anti-competitive practices, The Wall Street Journal reported, quoting a letter from Peter Hyun, acting assistant attorney general for legislative affairs for the department.
The proposed legislation will target internet platforms from discriminating against would-be competitors.
Antitrust law enforcement is being aggressively pursued by the Biden administration, which accuses tech heavy corporations of leveraging their positions to exploit integration of their own services and squeeze competitors' profits.
Companies such as Alphabet, Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), Google, Amazon oppose the proposed legislation, arguing it will make it harder to offer popular services. The bill's opponents believe profiting from the popularity of their creations should be allowed by e-marketplaces, search engines, and app.
Hyun wrote to bipartisan leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee, saying the law may spur the growth of new tech businesses adjacent to the platforms, providing them with much-needed competition, the WSJ added.
By clarifying what kinds of conduct Congress deems anti-competitive and illegal, the bills will complement existing antitrust laws and will enhance DOJ and the Federal Trade Commission's ability to challenge anti-competitive conduct, the paper said.