If 2021 had a battle cry for U.S. lawmakers facing off with the world's biggest tech companies, it would be this: "Legislation is coming."
This year, lawmakers went beyond just grilling companies like Apple, Google, Facebook, Twitter and Microsoft, collectively known as Big Tech.
They tabled new legislation. New bills now before the U.S. Congress include measures aimed at addressing a broad range of concerns — from anti-competitive behaviour to the mental health impact of using social media and the spread of disinformation on online platforms.
"I think Big Tech today represents the biggest accumulation of power, market power and monopoly power that the world has ever seen," Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said at a congressional hearing in April.
While it's not a guarantee that the bills will pass in 2022, the stage has been set for a massive shift in the regulatory landscape for Big Tech.
In addition, U.S. President Joe Biden has made it clear that his administration will hold tech companies to account, with an executive order tasking federal agencies to enforce fair competition rules.
Antitrust bills introduced in Congress this year will be the subject of intense debate next year. Lawmakers are likely to focus on efforts to clamp down on the reach of Big Tech companies and reform the country's fair competition laws.
"I think a lot did coalesce this year," said Eleanor Fox, an antitrust professor at New York University. "There's a real question about whether things...
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