Amazon and other tech giants could be forced to split their businesses under new House bill, report says

The bill is entitiled the Ending Platform Monopolies Act

Amazon and other tech giants could be forced to either divide their businesses into two companies or remove their private-label goods under a new bipartisan bill pushed by House lawmakers, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Details have yet to be announced, but sources told the publication that an announcement was expected on Friday.

The bill, which is currently called the Ending Platform Monopolies Act, would prevent tech giants like Amazon, Apple, and Google from owning or controlling “a line of business, other than the covered platform, when the covered platform’s ownership or control of that line of business gives rise to an irreconcilable conflict of interest.”

Instead, these companies would be mandated to split their business or shed their private-label products.

Big Tech has faced severe scrutiny from Congress over the last year for specific companies’ monopoly over their respective industries.

Congress is considering several bills to address concerns related to Big Tech, and another bill up for consideration would target the ability for these large companies to leverage their own products on their online platforms over products from other competitors.

Lawmakers are also drafting bills that would limit Big Tech companies like Facebook and Alphabet (Google’s parent company) to complete large mergers – such as when Facebook acquired Instagram. It would force these companies to make it easier for users to leave their platforms with their data still intact as well.

According to The Wall Street Journal, both proposed bills have support from Democratic and Republican lawmakers within the House of Representatives.

Whether these bills would gain enough support from the House and Senate to pass remained unknown.

A 16-month investigation by the House Judiciary subcommittee into antitrust with Amazon, Facebook, Apple, and Alphabet resulted in the Democratic majority recommending big changes to antitrust laws that could impact the “monopoly power” these companies hold.

Republican lawmakers have also expressed concerns about the power Big Tech holds over the industry, but they’ve been wary about changing antitrust laws.