Tech giants could face huge fines for breaking antitrust laws

Tech giants in the US could face vastly more substantial fines for breaking antitrust laws as part of new proposals brought forward by Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar.

Companies like Facebook, Apple, and Amazon, could be fined up to 15pc of their annual revenues for taking advantage of their unprecedented power to minimise competition.

The proposed rules, reported by Protocol, aim to make it more difficult for bigger firms to acquire smaller companies and would also introduce a ban on mergers that presented an “appreciable risk of harming competition”.

Republicans are expected to oppose Senator Klobuchar’s proposals while some of her own colleagues fear the new rules do not go far enough.

The fines included in the Competition and Antitrust Law Enforcement Reform Act would be considerably higher than what has been sought in the UK.

The Competition and Markets Authority is looking to fine big tech companies up to 10pc of their worldwide revenue if they behave unfairly.

The act would also heavily resource the agencies tasked with monitoring the big tech companies. As part of the regulations, the Department of Justice’s antitrust division would receive $484.5m (£348.9m) while the Federal Trade Commission would receive a boost in funding of $651m.