Lawmakers propose antitrust overhaul

US lawmakers unveiled sweeping antitrust measures Friday aimed at tempering the dominance of Big Tech firms including Apple and Facebook, in what may be the most ambitious effort in decades to break corporate monopolies. 

A bipartisan group of House members introduced five separate bills that propose changes so comprehensive they could reshape the largest US technology and entertainment companies and force an overhaul of their business practices.

In a bid to ward off corporate consolidation, the measures would make it harder for mega-companies like Amazon and Google to buy out smaller competitors, and facilitate the breakup of firms that use their dominant position in their core business to make deep inroads into another.

The bills follow a 16-month investigation by the Antitrust Subcommittee into the state of competition in the digital marketplace, and particularly the unregulated power wielded by Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google.

Silicon Valley giants have come under increasing fire in Europe and the United States due to concerns about monopoly-like power. And US President Joe Biden and other G7 countries are keen to set a global tax rate of at least 15 percent on multinational firms, in a bid to optimize tax revenue from tech behemoths.