Congress Calls Digital Giants “Prone to Monopolization”

A handful of digital companies are branded as having achieved the same level of pernicious market dominance as Standard Oil.

In a 450-page report issued Tuesday, the House Judiciary Committee’s Democratic leadership denounced a digital market that “over the past decade… has become highly concentrated and prone to monopolization.”

According to the Congressional report authors, “Social networking, general online search, and online advertising are dominated by just one or two firms. The companies investigated by the Subcommittee – Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google – have captured control over key channels of distribution and have come to function as gatekeepers.”

Andrew Albanese, Publishers Weekly senior writer, notes that the report has branded “a handful of companies as having achieved the same level of pernicious market dominance as Standard Oil, and it calls for an overhaul of antitrust laws to combat this power.”

Every Friday, CCC’s “Beyond the Book” speaks with the editors and reporters of “Publishers Weekly” for an early look at the news that publishers, editors, authors, agents and librarians will be talking about when they return to work on Monday.