5 antitrust reform bills look to rein in big tech

Analysts said the proposed legislation will likely do more harm than good and comes too late in the game to make much of a dent.

Ray Wang, president at consulting firm Constellation Research, said lawmakers should keep digital giants in check. However, as companies like Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google get bigger, they become increasingly “irresistible targets.”

“This will only increase the likelihood that regulation will be taken too far at [consumers’] expense,” Wang said.

Making it harder for tech giants to buy other companies Sucharita Kodali, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research, said the venture capital community will likely fight this legislation “tooth and nail,” since valuations are based in part on their likelihood for acquisition.  

“If this gives other companies a chance to be competitive, this will be good,” Kodali said. “If this reduces innovation long-term, then I think it will be reversed.”

While the proposed bills try to level the competitive playing field, they don’t address what Kodali considers to be some of the worst abuses of big tech, such as Section 230, which provides immunity for companies like Facebook from third-party content.

“None of these laws force accountability for false or damaging products, services or words on their platforms,” she said.

Alan Pelz-Sharpe, founder of consulting firm Deep Analysis, said the proposed legislation is long overdue, but the delay in regulating companies like Apple and Google is also part of the problem. Had the bills been enacted a decade ago, they could’ve had more success in stopping companies like these from becoming the behemoths they are today.

Today, tech giants run on a global scale “few can imagine,” and they’re able to fight back against legislators in a manner “previously unimaginable,” Pelz-Sharpe said, which makes them daunting opponents.

“No doubt, some of this legislation will move forward, and some of it may be enacted,” he said. “Life will be a little more difficult for the likes of Facebook and Google moving forward. It will be a thorn in their sides. But I doubt it will seriously impact their businesses.”

Next, the bills will be taken up Makenzie Holland is a news writer covering big tech and federal regulation. Prior to joining TechTarget, she was a general reporter for the Wilmington Star-News and a crime and education reporter at the Wabash Plain Dealer.