House committee passes sweeping tech antitrust reforms, but their future remains murky

House committee passes sweeping tech antitrust reforms, but their future remains murky

A House committee passed a series of sweeping antitrust reforms Thursday after roughly 23 hours of debate. While the advancement of the considered by the House Judiciary Committee beginning Wednesday is a victory for the bipartisan members who introduced them, the markup . Several lawmakers made it clear they thought the process from introduction to markup in less than two weeks felt rushed, despite a lengthy investigation preceding the bills. Some said they hoped to see further changes before the legislation reaches the House floor. Still, the last leg of the debate offered some signs of optimism for those hoping to advance the bills further. Fresh from a recess after passing the fifth bill after 5 a.m. on Thursday, lawmakers returned to the committee room to discuss the Ending Platform Monopolies Act around 11:30 a.m. The bill — sponsored by antitrust subcommittee Vice Chair Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and co-sponsored by Rep. Lance Gooden, R-Texas — would prevent dominant platforms from owning business lines that present conflicts of interest, such as by incentivizing them to favor their own products over rivals' dependent on their services. The bill was one of the most aggressive in the package, which also included updates to