Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar is introducing a bipartisan bill to curb acquisitions by Big Tech companies like Google and Amazon, her office said Friday.
The bill, which she's cosponsoring with Republican Sen. Tom Cotton, would give competition enforcers greater authority to block deals when they would enhance companies' market power, result in firms buying up potential competitors or allow Big Tech to acquire data to strengthen their dominance.
The measure, which is similar to a bipartisan House bill that advanced out of committee, would shift the burden of proof in premerger review. Companies would be required to "demonstrate the merger is not anticompetitive" rather than having the government prove that the transaction would be harmful.
A recent study by the Federal Trade Commission found that hundreds of small acquisitions by Big Tech companies helped them reach their titanic size. Some of those transactions evaded regulator scrutiny as well.
Last month, Klobuchar, who chairs a Senate panel on antitrust law, also introduced a bill on Big Tech's self-preferencing.
Climate TRACE's data show emissions at the facility-level.Image: Climate TRACE