Hawley introduces bill to trust-bust Big Tech

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) on Monday introduced new legislation he says will "bust up" Big Tech companies, including Amazon and Google, by breaking up tech companies and strictly regulating what types of industries they can be involved with.

The "Bust Up Big Tech Act" would make it illegal for companies that offer search engines, marketplaces, and exchanges from competing with third-party vendors by selling, advertising, or promoting their own competing goods and services. Amazon, for example, would be prohibited from owning Amazon Marketplace and also selling Amazon products on the marketplace in competition with third-party sellers.

The bill would also ban tech companies from providing internet infrastructure services to other companies or hosting their websites online if they are already engaged in another type of business. Using Amazon as an example again, Hawley's bill would make it illegal for Amazon to both own its marketplace and offer Amazon Web Services, which provides on-demand cloud computing platforms and other tech infrastructure to third parties.