Big Tech: US lawmakers introduce bill targeting Google and Facebook ads
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators on Thursday introduced legislation aimed at reducing the influence of Google and Facebook in online advertising, an early sign that lawmakers will continue efforts to rein in Big Tech in the new Congress.
According to Senator Mike Lee’s office, the bill targets Alphabet’s Google and Meta’s Facebook, as well as Amazon.com and Apple.
The bill prohibits large digital advertising companies, the largest of which is Google, from owning more than one part of the services that connect advertisers with companies that have space for ads.
The law only affects companies that make more than $20 billion in digital advertising. Affected companies would have to run more than $20 billion in digital advertising.
“If passed, this bill would likely require Google and Facebook to divest a significant portion of their advertising businesses — business units that generate or contribute to a large portion of their advertising revenue,” Lee’s office said in a statement.
“Amazon may also be forced out, and the decline will affect Apple’s accelerating revenue from third-party advertising.”
The companies did not immediately comment.
The bill’s primary sponsors include antitrust experts, including Senators Mike Lee, a Republican, and Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat. Also included are Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Republican tech skeptics like Sens. Josh Hawley and John Kennedy.
In the last legislative session, Congress passed bills aimed at giving law enforcement agencies bigger budgets and strengthening the role of state attorneys general, but legislation aimed at curbing big tech died.
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