The Democratic Representative David Cicilline of the US government last week introduced a new antitrust package with laws that can change things forever for big technology. If approved, radical ideas will be put into practice such as not allowing Apple to install any of its apps by default on their iPhones.
According to Bloomberg, the Democratic representative wants “a proposal that prohibits technological platforms from giving an advantage to their own products over those of the competition. ” This would mean for example “that Apple cannot ship devices with applications pre-installed on its iOS operating system.”
David Cicilline indicated that this would apply to other companies as well and not just to Apple. For example, Amazon with its Prime service “disadvantages some sellers who trust the e-commerce platform.” The idea behind this is that big tech cannot use their dominant position to favour their own products.
The antitrust package will now need to be approved by Congress to be effective. It is part of a bipartisan project in the United States with the aim of regulating large technology companies.
Neither the first nor the last
Neither the first nor the last measure to be taken against big technology. While the United States seems that only in the last two years is beginning to put an eye on their own businesses, in other places like Europe it has been doing years. The European Union has already imposed several fines for dominant position to Google, Amazon or Apple among others.
The case of Apple is particular because of the great influence it has on its own App Store software store and the impossibility of bypassing it for competitors. This is giving him more of a headache, with Epic taking the company to court and fighting with Spotify or Basecamp among others.