How well do we know the companies we purchase products and services from? Some of the most popular corporations participate in unethical practices, and it is time the government cracks down on these organizations and makes the consequences of monopolistic behavior known.
The House Judiciary subcommittee released an investigation on Oct. 6, and it determined that Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google participated in dishonorable tactics. This includes controlling access to markets, extracting personal data from users and surveilling potential rivals to remain the leaders of their line of work.
This 16-month investigation resulted in a 450-page report. It was based on the testimonies of CEOs, serving as evidence for monopolistic behavior when they were “evasive and non-responsive.”
There is a plentiful history of immoral practices. Every company operates with different policies, but all have similar methods of gatekeeping main channels of distribution. Because of this, the House subcommittee concluded that companies were unfairly picking losers and winners in the economy. The organizations partner up with certain firms to advertise products on their digital platforms, decreasing demand for competing products. It was gathered that “they also abuse users by charging exorbitant fees, imposing oppressive contract terms and extracting valuable data from the people and businesses that rely on them.”
This is not the first time legal action had to be taken against digital markets. Back in 2019, Google was fined $57 million for violating Europe’s data privacy law. Google did not properly inform users how their information was distributed across its services to personalize advertisements.
This type of behavior from big companies is troublesome. There need to be greater regulations on digital markets in order to hold them accountable for their actions. It is time that Congress stood up against these digitized markets abusing their power.
Congress strongly emphasizes the power of the antitrust laws. They are the country’s ammunition against monopolistic power and ensure an open and free market. They work to protect consumers from being abused by the companies they utilize. This is not effective if these companies are not regulated properly. They closely watched in order to protect the people who use their services daily.
One way to help with this ongoing issue is to change the way data is viewed. Former Presidential Candidate and American entrepreneur, Andrew Yang, brought up the point of presenting data as a property right. Making data a property right would mean that digital organizations will stop abusing their surveillance power and not collect data unethically from users. Without collecting personal information, there is no way to create targeted advertisements. Yang’s proposal is a possible, but unlikely proposition. For now, more regulation is needed, and organizations need to be held accountable for dangerous practices.
