Big Tech Antitrust Bill Backers Push for Vote

The lawmakers released documents collected in the investigation that ended in 2020 on Amazon.com. Inc.,

AMZN 3.91%

Alphabet Inc

GOOG 4.29%

Google, Meta Platforms Inc.

META 5.11%

And Apple Inc.,

APL 2.67%

He said that this shows the anti-competitive behavior of the companies.

The bill to ban self-selection passed a House committee and its Senate counterpart, but failed to get a vote in either chamber. Another bill on the horizon would target Apple and Google’s smartphone app stores.

A late campaign by supporters targeted Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., NY), who controls the Senate calendar.

An advocacy group called Fly for the Future, which supports the legislation, said it was showing a video billboard urging people to vote while paying to drive past Mr. Schumer’s residence. The Project for American Principles, another supporter of the bills, published an op-ed in June citing public lobbying statements in New York state that one of Mr. Schumer’s daughters would represent Amazon in Albany.

The Democratic leader has not publicly committed to a vote, although Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.), the primary sponsor of the bill, has promised Mr. Schumer that he will call one.

“I’m working with Sen. Klobuchar. I support these bills,” Mr. Schumer told reporters on Tuesday. I want to bring it to the floor. We need to see if we have 60 votes.

The supporters’ midsummer push was driven in part by the recognition that tech companies have a structural advantage in the legislative fight: If Congress does nothing, the companies will win.

The Senate is scheduled to begin its summer recess the week of Aug. 8, and major legislation is expected to be difficult to pass in the fall as lobbying intensifies ahead of the November election.

The documents released on Tuesday were first mentioned in 2015. It’s on the Home Report published in 2020, but they haven’t been fully released before.

Several documents show Google executives discussing how to improve Google Search and other products on Google’s proprietary Android mobile operating system.

In a 2013 e-mail chain discussing the requirements Google might impose on manufacturers of devices running Android, a Google executive described guidance from Sundar Pichai, who oversaw products at the time and is now the company’s CEO, about Google’s product classification requirements: “We need to be more prescriptive.”

A House committee cited that document as evidence of anticompetitive self-selection by Google.

“Major platforms have abused their monopoly power to destroy competition, exploit other businesses, harm consumers and stifle disruptive innovation,” Mr. Cicelli said. “The facts are not in doubt, and the solutions are clear… It’s time for Congress to act.

A Google spokesperson said in response: “The committee’s cherry-picked series of documents demonstrate our commitment to delivering a competitive and high-quality service to Android users.”

“Free services like Google Search, Maps and Gmail help people every day, and Android has created more choices at lower costs. “Americans simply don’t want Congress to crack down on Google’s products or harm the free services they rely on,” he said.

Another document, a 2018 Facebook internal report, analyzed whether the ownership of meta-platforms Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp would eventually erode each other’s users. “It’s unclear whether Instagram and Facebook can co-exist,” the document says.

The House Committee’s internal analysis of Facebook’s 2016 His 2012 acquisition of Instagram showed how he drove a competitor out of the market — a central issue in the Federal Trade Commission’s ongoing campaign to charge the company with illegal monopoly control.

Meta Platforms is fighting that situation. A spokesman said Tuesday that the documents had been provided to the committee years ago.

“The full report confirms what we’ve said from the beginning of these processes – we operate in a very competitive environment, and our acquisitions are good for competition, good for advertisers and good for people,” he said.

MetaPlatforms has not taken a public position on the antitrust law, although it supports advocacy groups that oppose it.

Groups bankrolled by tech giants have spent more than $36 million on TV and Internet ads, saying the law would make it harder to raise prices or offer popular services.

The tech companies say it’s only fair for platforms like e-marketplaces, search engines and apps to profit from their own innovations.

Both supporters and opponents of the constitution argue that if a vote is given, our people will win.

Ms. Klobuchar has said privately that there are more than 60 votes in favor of the bill in the Senate, according to a person who has met with her in recent weeks.

Tech company representatives question that claim, pointing to evidence that some senators’ support is waning. In a June 14 letter, Hawaii Senator Brian Schatz and three other Democrats asked Ms. Klobuchar to change a section of the law that would make it illegal for tech platforms to discriminate in the enforcement of their terms of service.

The provision could make it harder for the platforms to remove content that violates their hate speech and misinformation policies, the senators wrote.

Proponents of the bills counter that the bill contains language that narrows its scope to focus on competition issues rather than content moderation.

In a statement on Tuesday, Ms Klobuchar said the newly released documents “expose the problem in black and white” and “only add to our growing momentum to take action”.

— Lindsay Wise contributed to this article.

Write Ryan Tracy at ryan.tracy@wsj.com