The report published this Tuesday by the US House of Representatives antitrust judicial subcommittee, which is 450 pages long, includes evidence on how US antitrust supervisors failed at "key moments" and failed to prevent action by these companies. Therefore, they consolidated their power, and therefore now the norms are asked to be toughened.
Implicitly, the US Congress condemns that Apple along with the other three big companies (Amazon, Google and Facebook) have committed and are committing monopoly. It has stated openly that: "These companies have too much power", "they hurt competition and undermine innovation", "they have carried out aggressive acquisitions" or "they impose barriers to entry of other companies in their sectors"
In the resulting report, which includes references to more than 300 interviews with members of different industries and academics and 1,3 million documents, it includes evidence of how US antitrust supervisors failed at "key moments." They contributed not to avoid actions by these companies that ended up consolidating their power.
They recommend taking measures and tightening the legislation to control their "monopoly power": "Our democracy is at stake". They are very harsh words. As such, they must be taken and analyzed by the different CEOS of each of the companies.
Tim Cook, he said in an interview, not long ago, which had never practiced a monopoly. And that in a world as competitive as yours, it is normal to be accused of these practices. He also mentioned that it is normal and he agrees that Apple should be thoroughly investigated. We assume that now it will no longer be so receptive.
Democrat David Cicilline, Chairman of the Subcommittee has stated:
Our research leaves no doubt. There is a clear and pressing need for Congress and the antitrust agencies to take action to restore competition. We must improve innovation and protect our democracy. The report describes a roadmap to achieve that goal.
The long report talks about the monopoly of the Big Four and lists what each particular company has done in favor of the monopoly.
The commission's report cites that each of these four multinationals they have carried out actions aimed at controlling the market. On Facebook, for example, the report categorically states that it "has a monopoly on the rector of social networks." It selectively excluded some competitors from the use of its platform to protect itself from competitive pressure. Regarding Amazon, he emphasizes that his "dominant position" leads him to select, based on his interests, which sellers succeed on his platform and which ones see their sales reduced. Regarding Google, they mention that it relied on the data from its search engine to outline the tastes and needs of users about browsers, before launching its own (Chrome)
About Apple, they talk about market share. Together with a closed system, he has managed to "give him the ability to act as a controller over the distribution of mobile software." "Consequently, it has a dominant position in the mobile app store market and has monopoly power over the distribution of software applications on iOS devices."
A blow to Apple's claims. A nail to grasp for all those companies that have litigation with the American company for this reason. Epic Games, Telegram, Facebook ... and a long etcetera can use this report in their monopoly lawsuits at Apple. This report is not binding on the judges. Although it is likely that it will show them the future path and right now it could tip the balance to the opposite side of Apple in case of doubt. We will have to be attentive to see what the judges decide right now. The first test will be with Epic Games if Apple loses, it will have to prepare for the barrage of lawsuits that are going to rain on it.
