WASHINGTON - A US House of Representatives panel looking into abuses of market power by four of the biggest technology companies found they used"killer acquisitions" to smite rivals, charged exorbitant fees and forced small businesses into"oppressive" contracts in the name of profit.
"To put it simply, companies that once were scrappy, underdog startups that challenged the status quo have become the kinds of monopolies we last saw in the era of oil barons and railroad tycoons," the report said. Facebook called itself"an American success story" in response to the report."We compete with a wide variety of services with millions, even billions, of people using them.
Coming just weeks before the Nov 3 presidential election, the content of the report became increasingly political, an opportunity for Republicans and Democrats to boost their credibility in the fight against market domination by big tech companies. Separately, the US Justice Department is investigating large technology companies and is expected to bring a lawsuit against Google soon.
RECOMMENDATIONS The panel recommended companies be prohibited from operating in closely aligned businesses. While they did not name any one company, this recommendation would suggest that Google, which runs the auctions for online ad space and participates in those auctions, should potentially be required to separate clearly, or not even operate, the two businesses.