Big Tech Companies Might Lose Their Dominant Position

But are we willing to give up these conveniences?

Photo by xframe_offical on Xframe.

On Sunday, Last Week Tonight raised awareness among viewers that there are two bills in the works to take the monopoly away from big tech companies — most notably Amazon, Alphabet (Google), meta (Facebook), and Apple.

The two bills in question are the Open App Markets bill and the American Innovation And Choice Online Act. These bills restore power to competitors and customers and potentially opens doors for new possibilities.

The Open App Markets Bill

The Open App Markets Act seeks to give app developers more power to reach their customers without the control of the app stores run by Apple and Google, and in particular without paying the app store commissions of up to 30 percent on in-app purchases. It does this by requiring Apple and Google to permit users to load apps on their devices from sources other than the proprietary app stores, Apple’s App Store and Google Play. It also requires the companies to allow users to access other payment systems that do not charge the app store commissions.
— Mark MacCarthy, Lawfare

Apple’s App Store, for example, forces developers to use their payment system so Apple can take commissions of up to 30 percent on in-app purchases. Google does something similar with its Google Play store.

Another notable control move is how Apple’s App Store prefers you take their apps over any other by forcing them down the results list.

The American Innovation and Choice Online Act

The American Innovation and Choice Online Act (S.2992) is the latest bipartisan effort targeting big tech companies for potential antitrust and consumer choice violations.
— Tom Romanoff, Bipartisan Policy Center

This bill targets the most prominent “online platforms” like Amazon, Alphabet (Google), meta (Facebook), and Apple. These tech companies gave themselves an unfair advantage over competitors through their websites.

Amazon owns many of the suppliers found on its website and would prioritize its products by shoving the often cheaper competitors in a small corner on the…