The mobile apps of Gafa.

(illustration) -

DENIS CHARLET / AFP

Facebook should resell Instagram, Google separate from YouTube and Amazon no longer promote its own products on its platform: for some American elected officials, this is the only way to prevent the abuse of a dominant position of which they accuse the Gafa (Google, Apple , Facebook and Amazon).

The tech giants have "their own private quasi-regulation that only applies to themselves", say Democratic parliamentarians, in a report released Tuesday, after more than fifteen months of investigation and hearings with the heads of the four companies.

“To put it simply, these giants that were once small start-ups, challenging the status quo, have become the kind of monopolies we haven't seen since the era of oil barons and road tycoons. iron ”, they insist in the introduction to the 449-page document.

These elected representatives of the House of Representatives therefore call for "structural separations to prevent these platforms from operating in sectors of activity that depend on or interact with it".

A debate that is mounting in the United States too

The debate returns more and more frequently in the United States, as discontent grows against the Gafa, always richer and more powerful.

The pandemic and the Great Containment have even strengthened them, while large companies in other sectors have had to lay off thousands of people.

The report recommends that platforms allow “interoperability” with their competitors' equipment and establish a “standard” to prohibit acquisitions that harm competition.

The report produced by the team of the judicial commission was not however validated by its Republican members, and the recommended measures should not even be examined in the Senate, controlled by the Republicans.

This underlines the differences between the two parties, which often jointly criticize the tech giants but for different reasons.

Amazon disputes

Matt Schruers of the Computer and Communications Industry Association, which brings together most of the big companies in the sector, believes elected officials have failed to understand the digital economy.

“If it's just about bumping into successful American companies, then maybe this plan will score points,” he commented.

In its argument, Amazon points out that it represents "only 1% of the 25 trillion dollars of the global distribution market and less than 4% of distribution in the United States".

But the Democrats' report appeared to satisfy Athena, a collective of anti-Amazon organizations.

"This survey shows how much Amazon and the 'Big Tech' do not care about the fundamental principles of our democracy," said Dania Rajendra, director of the group, in a statement.

According to her, "the American public now expects our elected officials to follow this report with a law to divide Amazon and rewrite anti-monopoly rules, so that workers are not sacrificed for Amazon's profits," a- she added.

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