“Fringe notions”

Amazon’s response ? https://t.co/7tkxjCytsi

— Deirdre Bosa (@dee_bosa) October 6, 2020

Apple should get ahead of this and make the App Store free for the first $100,000 a year in sales & then 20% after that.

Would be amazing good will on @tim_cook’s part to make the rake lower & incentivize more take home pay for small app builders https://t.co/q7NA9MAOZP

— jason@calacanis.com (@Jason) October 6, 2020

In today's On Tech:

The House antitrust report on Big Tech is thorough, unafraid to propose sweeping policy fixes and also...kinda overly broad.

When you have an antitrust hammer, everything looks like antitrust nail? https://t.co/c6ivk1mrSg

— Shira Ovide (@ShiraOvide) October 7, 2020

Bam, there it is.
After more than a year of bipartisan investigations of Google, Facebook (plus Apple and Amazon), the U.S. House antitrust report just dropped. Time to go into deep-read mode. Tweets likely comin'. cc @dcnorg https://t.co/6ATnizrPP6 pic.twitter.com/8ZbXeA3Xw9

— Jason Kint (@jason_kint) October 6, 2020

We can’t dismantle deep economic and racial inequities without a policy agenda on corporate power.

This subcommittee report is a big deal, includes major structural proposals to tackle concentrated private control by big tech over markets, data, and our public sphere. https://t.co/0H5bfbF9U3

— K. Sabeel Rahman (@ksabeelrahman) October 6, 2020

It’s interesting that the congressional report claims that the App Store has raised software prices. Don’t developers usually complain that it’s devalued apps? https://t.co/779Y1cfxBp

— Josh Centers (@jcenters) October 6, 2020

An interesting question, but not the relevant question for an antitrust inquiry. The definition of market power is the ability to profitably raise prices over competitive levels (or lower prices for a buyer) or exclude rivals. Prove that directly and u don’t need 2 compute shares

— Hal Singer (@HalSinger) October 7, 2020

Antitrust report is out. Number of times companies are cited:
Google: 1,966
Amazon: 1861
Apple: 1285
Facebook: 944https://t.co/wkFDhkxsHD pic.twitter.com/MV2UHJS0jI

— Jeff Roberts (@jeffjohnroberts) October 6, 2020

The House #BigTech report shows merger reform is an absolute must. 500 acquisitions by tech giants and not a single antitrust challenge. Yet the Clayton Act prohibits mergers that may lessen competition or tend to create a monopoly! pic.twitter.com/KFGRo9hqCt

— Sally Hubbard (@Sally_Hubbard) October 7, 2020

Wait, did people actually think the House Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust was going to find Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google weren't anticompetitive? This has been the obvious outcome, however wrong the conclusions are, for some time.

— Neil Cybart (@neilcybart) October 6, 2020

I am amused that someone on the committee's staff read my discussion of Amazon's market share and decided to ignore my observation that Amazon does, in fact, compete with physical retailers. https://t.co/9eG2UMuHFw pic.twitter.com/EBImLcVi99

— Benedict Evans (@benedictevans) October 6, 2020

Some light reading tonight. 449 page House antitrust report on Big Tech is here.

Amazon mentioned 1,861 times
Google 1,966
Apple 1,285
Facebook 944 (!?)https://t.co/McQgtDgfUF

cc @ltbatch

— Deirdre Bosa (@dee_bosa) October 6, 2020

Of course you can object to Facebook/Instagram being cleared. But *once it had been cleared*, objecting to a business running itself as "an internal monopoly" and directing different products to target different customer groups really seems misguided on a fundamental level.

— Sam Bowman (@s8mb) October 6, 2020

The threats Facebook and Google made to Australia after that country attempted to regulate them come up in the Cicilline Report on big tech. Apparently @davidcicilline is unhappy when big tech monopolies threaten sovereign nations.

— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) October 6, 2020

Reading the US anti-trust committee on 'big tech' antitrust. Lots that people in tech will argue about, but is there anyone at all that thinks startup creation has gone down in the last decade?! And this is based on one (1) study from... 2013. ? pic.twitter.com/2nHZXrMEFW

— Benedict Evans (@benedictevans) October 6, 2020

This paragraph highlights an unavoidable tension. The report admits that Apple's closed ecosystem has produced significant benefits to app developers and consumers.

But the flip side of that closed ecosystem is that some players feel excluded (or can't do what they want). pic.twitter.com/wTzFXUuBCD

— Alec ? (@AlecStapp) October 6, 2020

But look, rewind back a few years.

I would not have believed that there would be (mostly) bipartisan agreement that four of America's most successful companies got that way by breaking the rules, and the status quo must change.

This is a big deal. pic.twitter.com/eNtcwecE6r

— Shira Ovide (@ShiraOvide) October 7, 2020

Looks like the Trumpers on the House antitrust subcommittee have chosen sides, and they're on the side of protecting Big Tech. If true, that would turn tech regulation into just another partisan issue that Congress is incapable of addressing. https://t.co/z5i5UhJ0nT

— Will Oremus (@WillOremus) October 6, 2020

v interesting truth nugs in this 400-page House report, like this IG employee quote:

"It was collusion, but within an internal monopoly. If you own two social media utilities, they should not be allowed to shore each other up. It’s unclear to me why this should not be illegal."

— rat king (@MikeIsaac) October 6, 2020

Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google have all responded to the antitrust report. @lauren_feiner has everything here:https://t.co/6ZtPEEMncY

— Steve Kovach (@stevekovach) October 6, 2020

The report — 450 pages long, with more than 2,500 footnotes — and the recommendations constitute a stunning rebuke of Silicon Valley by Democratic antitrust hawks in the nation’s capital. https://t.co/7xwoFZexHn

— Roll Call (@rollcall) October 7, 2020

I wrote this in 2016 about the Mac App Store, and very little has changed since. Apple did the bare minimum but it was enough to get majority user share, so Apple has never bothered to compete, and users and developers suffer as a result pic.twitter.com/BTAUOY4Okz

— Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) October 6, 2020

Anti-monopoly vs. Antitrust

What matters about the Congressional report on tech and antitrust is that it exists, not the specific details.https://t.co/DjBpZ5meDU

— Stratechery (@stratechery) October 7, 2020

Apple is labeled a monopoly in the US tech antitrust report, and that it uses "privacy as a sword to exclude rivals and a shield to insulate itself from charges of anticompetitive conduct." Ouch. pic.twitter.com/VLK6m8UXhu

— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) October 6, 2020

The remedies are pretty strong: (1) legislative breakups (2) strengthen merger and monopolization law (3) reform enforcers and (4) restore the ability of private citizens to sue monopolists.

It's a great report. Wow. /Fin

— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) October 7, 2020

This is massive for Epic. https://t.co/qQy66r8Rus

— Mike Futter (@Futterish) October 6, 2020

If we destroy the modern basis of anti-trust law — which, make no doubt, is what today’s House report wants to do — we’ll be setting back America’s ability to compete by decades

(And it won’t be European tech that replaces FAANG) https://t.co/yIHx4P7xqq

— Zak Kukoff (@zck) October 6, 2020

Congress is structurally beholden to Facebook because it has a duopoly in online political advertising. Even the most anti-Facebook members of congress spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on the platform. It's an interesting and unique form of regulatory capture

— Pinboard (@Pinboard) October 7, 2020

What does competing mean for the Mac App Store? Apple’s %, sure, but also upgrade pricing, sandbox exceptions, bundle & suite options, even TestFlight. Doing everything in Apple's power, fairly, to offer all the most important apps on the platform, to improve the user experience

— Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) October 6, 2020

Maybe the most interesting recommendation from the antitrust subcommittee: "any acquisition by
a dominant platform would be presumed anticompetitive unless the merging parties could show that
the transaction was necessary for serving the public interest" https://t.co/w0PPOlEJny

— Alex Sherman (@sherman4949) October 6, 2020

Quick glance at the House Antitrust Subcommittee report's substance. The number of pages dedicated to each company under "Dominant Online Platforms" Section:

Facebook: 37
Apple: 43
Amazon: 68
Google: 71

— Luther Lowe (@lutherlowe) October 6, 2020

Amazon says the new @HouseJudiciary antitrust report contains “fringe notions on antitrust."https://t.co/n6SYAcVLjR

— Cyrus Farivar (@cfarivar) October 6, 2020

After conducting America's first major congressional antitrust investigation in decades, I can say conclusively that self-regulation by Big Tech comes at the direct expense of our communities, small businesses, consumers, the free press, and innovation. https://t.co/DIdzagw7nB

— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) October 6, 2020

If the FTC can't bring an antitrust case against Facebook just lock the building and hand over the keys to the National Gallery across the street. At least if it were a museum it would offer the public some use. pic.twitter.com/aOouEdjsIK

— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) October 6, 2020

I think the way this is headed, sideloading, alternate app stores, and/or alternate payment processing methods on iOS are going to happen. There’s just too much regulation pressure worldwide, and every single argument Apple has is completely undermined by the existence of macOS

— Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) October 6, 2020

TL;DR on the House antitrust report on Apple (and I've only read the Apple section and conclusion) is that there's more than enough evidence, and they just need to figure out the correct punishment. Mentioned: splitting App Store into separate company, blocking acquisitions

— Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) October 6, 2020

A massive new report on big tech’s monopoly power makes it clear Facebook bought Instagram to hamstring competition. https://t.co/Et4dcbAvkw

— VICE (@VICE) October 7, 2020

"It’s unclear to me why this should not be illegal. You can collude by acquiring a company." https://t.co/MKGKKteWkS

— Motherboard (@motherboard) October 7, 2020

“If you own two social media utilities, they should not be allowed to shore each other up. It’s unclear to me why this should not be illegal. You can collude by acquiring a company.”

-- former senior Instagram employee

via @KarlBode https://t.co/LETZeWxmHT

— Hal Singer (@HalSinger) October 7, 2020

“The lawmakers said the companies [Amazon, Apple, Facebook. And Google] had abused their dominant positions, setting and often dictating prices and rules for commerce, search, advertising, social networking and publishing.” https://t.co/xfS5ORgDXQ

— John Tasioulas (@JTasioulas) October 6, 2020

#US??: Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook abuse their monopoly power by dictating rules and prices, found a report by a Democratic House Committee. The lawmakers call for reforming competition laws and restructuring the big #tech companies. #TaxTheTechshttps://t.co/czJVJHfG0x

— IFJ (@IFJGlobal) October 7, 2020

#House lawmakers determine that #Amazon, #Apple, #Facebook, and #Google have exercised and abused monopolistic power and call for the most sweeping #antitrust actions, to protect capitalist competition and innovation, in half a century!https://t.co/qP1W47w3In

— YangDailyPodcast ??? (@YangDailyCast) October 7, 2020

Big Tech companies are responsible for more harm than they'll ever admit - from driving the racial wealth gap to exploiting Black labor and talent to predatory data collection, it's time for them to be held accountable. https://t.co/qpq8Hc22FA

— ColorOfChange (@ColorOfChange) October 6, 2020

Co-authors hope anti-trust measures will restore democracy (!!) as well as mitigate harms from monopolistic and anti-competitive behavior >> House Lawmakers Condemn Big Tech’s ‘Monopoly Power’ and Urge Their Breakups ↘️ https://t.co/UoHjDHYYr7

— Marietje Schaake (@MarietjeSchaake) October 7, 2020

House Lawmakers Condemn Big Tech’s ‘Monopoly Power’ and Urge Their Breakups https://t.co/oYTR0BR0B0 とうとう来ました，2020年代の独占規制．当然，何か起こらないはずはないですよね．まあ，MSもあのIE独占の規制があっても今の柔軟さがあるわけで，多少の拘束条件は未来への飛躍になることも…

— Yuta Kashino (@yutakashino) October 7, 2020

Developing tonight: In a 400+ page report, House committee said that Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google exercised and abused their monopoly power and called for the most sweeping changes to antitrust laws in half a century. w/ @ceciliakang https://t.co/1qfQ81LdFM

— David McCabe (@dmccabe) October 6, 2020

House panel spent the last 16 months investigating the practices of the tech companies Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google. The result is a 449-page report. A lot to unpack. I did my small part in conversations with the panel members and providing data.https://t.co/LgfqBIxSlp pic.twitter.com/m0DFQKeIBk

— Juozas Kaziukėnas (@juokaz) October 7, 2020

House lawmakers ... said Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google had exercised and abused their monopoly power and called for the most sweeping set of changes to antitrust laws in half a century. https://t.co/5McFKJUcTA

— Bruno J. Navarro (@Bruno_J_Navarro) October 6, 2020

GAFA(Google,Amazon,Facebook,Apple)の市場独占に関する449Pにもなる調査報告書が民主党議員から下院議会に提出され独禁法の改正や解体について提案されている。GAFA抑制するかについては共和党と意見が分かれ選挙によってどうなるか注目されるところだ。#大統領選挙https://t.co/yywpMdq9Nk

— Yoshiji Nishimoto (@yoshichan3) October 7, 2020

House Lawmakers Condemn Big Tech’s ‘Monopoly Power’ #Innovation https://t.co/Bip2TTq6dS

— Paula Piccard ?? ?? (@Paula_Piccard) October 6, 2020

미 하원 반독점소위원회: 앱스토어, 애플에게 iOS 앱에 대한 '독점 지배권' 부여해
- 오늘 소위원회, 지난 16개월 간 조사 끝에 장장 450 페이지 보고서 공개하고 대형 테크 기업들이 경쟁을 방지하기 위해 "독점 지배권"을 이용한다면서 독점금지법의 대대적인 변경을 추천해https://t.co/7HpO0UvRMP

— Wan Ki Choi (@wkchoi) October 7, 2020

holy shit the us congress has sided with fortnite https://t.co/z8xnvDzfLk

— laura, rat queen (@freezydorito) October 7, 2020

On the big theater/threat of breakup. https://t.co/mQYuUjzkbN

— Steven Sinofsky (@stevesi) October 7, 2020

Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer: I’ll bet money Big Tech won’t be broken up https://t.co/Facj1MaCt4

— CNBC Tech (@CNBCtech) October 7, 2020

Amazon is like the sun. https://t.co/WuFTDPYeIk pic.twitter.com/ZccUwoe9oQ

— Jay Yarow (@jyarow) October 7, 2020

Amazon bullies partners and vendors, says antitrust subcommittee https://t.co/8gpuEhH6KW

— CNBC Tech (@CNBCtech) October 7, 2020

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

I would rather see targeted antitrust enforcement over onerous and burdensome regulation that kills industry innovation. https://t.co/IEpF1IYQQ7

— Congressman Ken Buck (@RepKenBuck) October 6, 2020

Cliff's Notes versionhttps://t.co/V6VM887STK

— rat king (@MikeIsaac) October 6, 2020

CliffsNotes! 12 Accusations in the Damning House Report on Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google via @MikeIsaac @daiwaka @jacknicas @SteveLohr https://t.co/p0we7hk2vf

— CeciliaKang (@ceciliakang) October 7, 2020

odd to characterize the views of the party in control of the House of Representatives as “fringe” https://t.co/f59mWZkTI1

— John Bergmayer (@bergmayer) October 7, 2020

Apple's response to House Antitrust Report https://t.co/aJqVJQNwMW pic.twitter.com/9HCbkcEUiq

— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) October 6, 2020

これ、読んだ？(´・ω・`)あたんしおんしるぶぷれ(´・ω・`)https://t.co/4BVLBYNmXY

— ZURAHEDGE (@ZURAZURA_syunin) October 7, 2020

A massive new report on big tech's monopoly power makes it clear Facebook bought Instagram to hamstring competition. https://t.co/MKGKKteWkS

— Motherboard (@motherboard) October 8, 2020