Congress says Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple abused monopoly power

Facebook, Amazon, Google and Apple have been accused of “abuses of monopoly power” in a 450-page report from Congress on Tuesday. The US House of Representatives antitrust subcommittee drew its conclusions after a 16-month investigation that culminated in an hours-long hearing with Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Apple’s Tim Cook and Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai in July.

The report likens the tech companies to monopolies from “the era of oil barons and railroad tycoons.”

“Although these firms have delivered clear benefits to society, the dominance of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google has come at a price,” the report says. “These firms typically run the marketplace while also competing in it — a position that enables them to write one set of rules for others, while they play by another.”

According to the subcommittee, Facebook for instance maintained its monopoly thanks to “anticompetitive business practices,” like seeking out competitive threats and either acquiring them, copying them or “killing” them.

Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

This is a developing story.

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