House Judiciary advances all bills in sweeping antitrust legislative package

The U.S. House Judiciary Committee has approved all six pieces of legislation in a sweeping antitrust package targeting Big Tech, advancing the bills to the full House of Representatives.

On Thursday, the committee narrowly advanced the sixth and final bill, the Ending Platform Monopolies Act, in a 21-20 vote. The proposal would bar technology companies from selling products on a platform they control, such as Amazon selling first-party goods on its own marketplace.

In the span of nearly 29 hours, the House Judiciary Committee debated and approved all six bills introduced in an antitrust package earlier in June. Support for the bills has been bipartisan, and votes were not along party lines.

Some of the other bills in the package include the Platform Competition and Opportunity Act, which would ban tech giants from acquiring rising rivals, and the Augmenting Compatibility and Competition bill, which would make it easier for consumers to port their data from one platform to another.

Two other bills approved on Wednesday would increase the budget of the U.S.'s top antitrust enforcement agencies and allow antitrust cases brought by state attorneys general to be kept in a court of their choosing.

The approval of the bills by the panel now means that they're up for a vote before the full House of Representatives.

Apple has voiced opposition to the legislative package, claiming that they'd harm consumers and stifle innovation. Apple CEO Tim Cook also personally called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other lawmakers in an attempt to sway opinion against the bills.

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