By Marguerite Reardon – c|net | Thur. Dec. 24, 2020 |
From antitrust lawsuits to a potential privacy law to limits on free speech protections, Silicon Valley will face calls for more regulation in the coming year.
For more than a decade, lawmakers and regulators have taken a hands-off approach to Silicon Valley. But that’s all likely to change for Big Tech companies like Amazon, Apple, Google, Facebook and Twitter as the folks in charge in Washington look to rein in their power and influence.
Politicians and policymakers on both sides of the aisle have grown increasingly alarmed by the power these companies wield — how it might harm consumers by enabling the firms to choke off competition from smaller players, exploit personal data for profit, and distort what media is shared and consumed online.
Some on Capitol Hill are calling for a full-scale reset. In October, the House Judiciary Committee published a scathing, 449-page report that concluded Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google have transformed into monopoly powerhouses.
“Companies that were once 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 reads.
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