The proposals would represent a massive change to US antitrust laws.

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Who is targeted as big tech and why?

US lawmakers are targeting big tech in a big way, and it’s going to affect us all

This culminated in a450-page reportpublished by the majority Democrats in October last year.

Google, for instance, has been accused of advantaging its services such as Google Shopping in search results.

Third, the proposals target killer acquisitions made by big tech companies.

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These refer to cases where Amazon, Facebook, Apple, and Google buy up smaller competitors.

These acquisitions may prevent better or more innovative products from emerging.

They remove a vital competitive threat, and venture capitalists may be discouraged from funding remaining rivals.

Consider WhatsApp, which began as a champion of privacy in instant messaging.

Thoseprivacy protections have been erodedsince Facebook was allowed to buy WhatsApp in 2014.

Under one of the bills, big tech companies would face greater hurdles to achieve killer acquisitions.

It would place the onus on the acquiring company to first prove it doesnt compete with the target company.

How likely is it the proposals will become law?

However, this doesnt amount to a general consensus between the parties.

Each tends to support measures against big tech for different reasons.

Many Republicans believe the platforms havea bias against their partyand want to see more conservative-friendly rivals emerge.

Splitting the measures into different bills also increases the chances some will be passed.

Where measures are successfully imposed on a US company, it may decide to implement the same changes globally.

The EU has already been considering its ownmore stringent lawsagainst large digital platforms.

Lawmakers in other countries are likely to be influenced by these moves.

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