Proposed antitrust reform bill, if passed, will have big effect on companies such as Apple

A new antitrust reform bill proposed by U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota), chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on antitrust matters, could see Big Tech giants such as Apple fined up to 15% of their annual revenues, according to Protocol.

Her “Competition and Antitrust Law Enforcement Reform Act of 2021,” a refurbished version of bills she’s introduced over the last few years, “is the most serious legislative salvo against Big Tech in years,” according to Protocol. It comes as Democrats assume power over both chambers of Congress and the White House. Among other things, Klobuchar’s bill would:

° Make it harder for powerful firms with substantial market power to acquire smaller companies and forbid mergers that present an “appreciable risk of harming competition.”

° Force companies like Facebook and Google to prove to government regulators that their mergers would not disrupt the marketplace or increase market concentration.

° Empower government regulators such as the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission with new powers and resources to penalize companies acting anti-competitively.