After 16 months and over 1 million documents, the congressional subcommittee argues they have simply gotten too big and too dominant in major digital markets, allowing them to make excessive profit, squeeze out rivals, or both.
One option, according to the lawmakers, could be prohibiting a company that operates a powerful online store from selling its own goods.
Apple, meanwhile, is singled out for demanding a 30% cut from developers, like Spotify Technology or Fortnite owner Epic Games, for instance, that sell in its app store, and refusing them access to customer data.
That prevents any competitor including fellow behemoth Microsofts Bing search engine from getting anywhere near the same results. For its part, Facebook is cited in the report for multiple offenses including buying up smaller threats like Instagram or WhatsApp to maintain its lead in social media.The lawmakers suggest forcing Mark Zuckerbergs company to make it easy for users to move data to rival social networks, a serious threat to its market position.
The report was led by Democrats, but Republicans have their own reasons to go after Big Tech, and the Justice Department is preparing an antitrust lawsuit against Google, according to media reports.
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