Senators Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Protect Competition and Consumer Choice Online

Chairwoman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Sen Tom Cotton (R-AR) introduced bipartisan legislation to make it more difficult for dominant online platforms to make acquisitions that harm competition and eliminate consumer choice. The Platform Competition and Opportunity Act will halt further harmful consolidation by:

1. Giving antitrust enforcers stronger authority to stop acquisitions by dominant platforms that primarily serve to kill competitive threats or enhance the platform’s monopoly power, including acquisitions:
   1. Of direct competitors;
   2. That reinforce or expand a platform’s market position;
   3. Of potential competitors; and
   4. Of data that strengthen or expand a platform’s dominance.
2. Shifting the burden in merger enforcement to dominant platforms to demonstrate the merger is not anticompetitive.
3. Striking the appropriate balance for merger enforcement in digital markets by permitting dominant platforms to make acquisitions that do not threaten competition or enhance monopoly power.