Because of the US ban on Huawei … a big increase...

The chair of the US House of Representatives Antitrust Committee, David Cecilin, said in an interview on Wednesday that he would be “comfortable” getting rid of Facebook’s takeover of Instagram.

On Tuesday, a US House of Representatives committee looking into violations of the market power of the majors found that four large tech companies used “killer acquisitions” to beat competitors, imposed exorbitant fees, and forced small firms into “unfair” contracts in the name of profit.

The Anti-Monopoly Subcommittee of the Judicial Committee recommended that Google, Amazon, Facebook and Alphabet Inc with a combined market value of more than $ 5 trillion, should not control and compete at the same time.

The committee’s report also recommended a wide range of structural separation within those companies, but did not go as far as to say that a particular company should be divided, according to Reuters news agency.

The scathing 449-page report, the result of the US Congress’s first review of the technology industry, proposed sweeping changes to antitrust law and described dozens of cases in which companies had misused their power, and exposed corporate cultures that seemed intent on doing what they could to maintain their dominance over large parts. from Internet.

“In simple terms, companies that were once vulgar, underdog, challenging the status quo, are practicing the kinds of monopolies that we last saw in the era of the oil barons and railroad tycoons,” the report said.

In anticipation of the report, in a blog post on Tuesday, Amazon warned of “antitrust marginal concepts” and market interventions that “would kill independent retailers and punish consumers by forcing small businesses out of popular online stores, raising prices and reducing consumer choice.” .

Google said in a statement that it competes fairly and is highly competitive.

“We do not agree with today’s report, which presents outdated and inaccurate allegations from commercial competitors about search and other services,” a Google statement said.

For its part, Facebook called itself an “American success story” in response to the report.

“We are competing with a variety of services with millions or even billions of people who use them,” he said.

The social network said acquisitions are part of every industry, and it is only one way in which we innovate new technologies to deliver more value to people.

While Apple said that “the audit is reasonable and appropriate, but we strongly disagree with the conclusions.”

The company also defended its commission rates and said it would issue a more comprehensive response in the coming days.

After more than a year of investigation, which included 1.3 million documents and more than 300 interviews, the committee led by Democratic congressman David Ceclin found that companies were running markets where they also competed, creating a “hub where they could write one set of rules for others.”

A few weeks before the presidential election, on November 3, the content of the report became increasingly political, and an opportunity for Republicans and Democrats to boost their credibility in fighting the dominance of the big tech companies on the market.

However, Congress is unlikely to make a decision on the results this year.