WASHINGTON - The United States on Tuesday announced it would begin an antitrust review of major online platforms to determine if they have "stifled" innovation or reduced competition.
The announcement by the Justice Department did not name specific companies but appeared to signal the department was targeting Google, Facebook and Amazon, which dominate key sectors of the digital economy.
It was not immediately clear if the probe would also target Apple, which despite not being the dominant smartphone maker wields power over services via its App Store.
The antitrust division is reviewing "whether and how market-leading online platforms have achieved market power and are engaging in practices that have reduced competition, stifled innovation, or otherwise harmed consumers," the Justice Department said in a statement.
It added that investigators are "conferring with and seeking information from the public, including industry participants who have direct insight into competition in online platforms, as well as others."
The probe comes after the European Union imposed hefty fines on Google over charges that it abused its dominant position and also launched a formal investigation into online commerce leader Amazon.
"Without the discipline of meaningful market-based competition, digital platforms may act in ways that are not responsive to consumer demands," Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division Makan Delrahim said.
BREAKUPS UNLIKELY
US antitrust enforcers have broad authority over companies and can impose fines for violating antitrust law, impose "structural" remedies to allow for more competition or even break them up.
Some lawmakers including Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren have been calling for a breakup of major tech firms, saying they are too big and powerful.
Breakups have been ordered only for Standard Oil in 1911 and AT&T in the 1980s, and many analysts say they are unlikely to be applied to Big Tech.
Facebook has argued, for example, that a breakup would not address concerns over its privacy missteps, but rather lead to a number of smaller firms with similar issues.
Analyst Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities said in a research note that breakup orders appear unlikely based on current US law.
"We reiterate our belief that this broader Beltway vs. Big Tech battle is more bark than the bite of broader structural changes across the tech food chain and will likely result in business model tweaks... rather than forced breakups of the underlying businesses," Ives wrote.
"Current antitrust law does not provide for a forced breakup solely due to the size of the business; if it did, Walmart would have been broken up decades ago."
source: news.abs-cbn.com
WASHINGTON -- The fast-growing, Chinese-owned video sharing network TikTok agreed to pay a $5.7 million fine to US authorities to settle charges that it illegally collected personal information from children, officials said Wednesday.
The Federal Trade Commission said the penalty by the social network, which had been known as Musical.ly, was the largest ever in a children's privacy investigation.
The social network, which has been surging in popularity with young smartphone users and taking over from rivals like Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, failed to obtain parental consent from its underage users as required by the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, FTC officials said.
"The operators of Musical.ly -- now known as TikTok -- knew many children were using the app, but they still failed to seek parental consent before collecting names, email addresses, and other personal information from users under the age of 13," said FTC chairman Joe Simons.
"This record penalty should be a reminder to all online services and websites that target children: We take enforcement of COPPA very seriously, and we will not tolerate companies that flagrantly ignore the law."
TikTok claimed some 500 million users worldwide last year, making it one of the most popular worldwide apps.
Owned by China's ByteDance, it expanded its reach in the US with the merger with Musical.ly.
Teens have been flocking to the service, which allows them to create and share videos of 15 seconds.
According to the FTC, the company required users to provide an email address, phone number, username, first and last name, a short biography, and a profile picture.
The consumer protection regulator said 65 million accounts have been registered in the United States.
Officials said the company knew that many of its users were under 13 and should have taken greater precautions.
"In our view, these practices reflected the company's willingness to pursue growth even at the expense of endangering children," said a statement from FTC commissioners Rohit Chopra and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter.
"The agency secured a record-setting civil penalty and deletion of ill-gotten data, as well as other remedies to stop this egregious conduct."
TikTok has faced criticism around the world for featuring sexually suggestive content inappropriate for children.
TikTok said in a statement it would create a "separate app experience" for younger users with additional privacy protections as part of its agreement with regulators.
"It's our priority to create a safe and welcoming experience for all of our users, and as we developed the global TikTok platform, we've been committed to creating measures to further protect our user community -- including tools for parents to protect their teens and for users to enable additional privacy settings," the statement said.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
WASHINGTON - The lobby group for some of the most powerful US tech firms said Friday it would join the legal challenge to the planned rollback of "net neutrality" rules requiring internet service providers to treat all online traffic equally.
The Internet Association -- a group which includes Google, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft, among others -- announced it would support legal efforts to block the rollback voted last month by the Federal Communications Commission.
The association gave no specifics but suggested it would seek to intervene in lawsuits expected by several attorneys general, including from Washington and New York states.
Internet Association president Michael Beckerman said the FCC action voted December 14 "defies the will of a bipartisan majority of Americans and fails to preserve a free and open internet."
He said the association "intends to act as an intervenor in judicial action against this order and, along with our member companies, will continue our push to restore strong, enforceable net neutrality protections through a legislative solution."
Last month's vote capped a heated partisan debate and is just the latest twist in a battle over more than a decade on rules governing internet service providers.
FCC chairman Ajit Pai, who pushed the latest effort, has argued that the neutrality rule enacted in 2015 served to stifle investment and innovation in a fast-evolving sector.
But net neutrality backers have argued that clear rules are needed to prevent internet service providers from blocking or throttling services or websites for competitive reasons, and that the rollback would increase the power of a few dominant providers to control what users see online.
Lawsuits could not be filed until the FCC's order was published, which occurred this week. Some lawmakers have also begun efforts to invalidate the FCC's action.
The battle over net neutrality has raged for over a decade in the FCC and the courts, with both sides contending they represent "internet freedom."
The 2015 net neutrality rules were backed by then-president Barack Obama and endorsed by a 3-2 Democratic majority at the time. But the election of President Donald Trump reversed the FCC party majority and it quickly reversed course.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
