Platform Competition and Opportunity Act of 2021
Latest action · Jun 24, 2021 Ordered to be Reported (Amended).
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedJun 11, 2021
- Passed HouseNot reached
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Platform Competition and Opportunity Act of 2021
This bill generally prohibits operators of covered platforms from acquiring the stock or other share capital or the assets of another person engaged in commerce or in any activity affecting commerce.
Covered platforms are online platforms that (1) have at least 50 million U.S.-based monthly active users or at least 100,000 U.S.-based monthly active business users, (2) are owned or controlled by a person with net annual sales or a market capitalization greater than $600 billion, and (3) are critical trading partners for the sale or provision of any product or service offered on or directly related to the platform.
The Federal Trade Commission or the Department of Justice must designate whether an entity is a covered platform, and both must carry out enforcement activities.
The bill provides for any person (other than a foreign state and any instrumentality thereof) who is injured by an activity forbidden under the bill to recover triple damages. (A foreign state may only recover actual damages.)
Further, the bill specifies the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit as the judicial venue for a covered platform's appeals related to (1) the designation as a covered platform, (2) other administrative and enforcement proceedings, or (3) a final order issued in any district court.
Cosponsors 24
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Jun 11, 2021 to Apr 14, 2022; 4 are original cosponsors, there from the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-RI | David N. Cicilline | Original | Jun 11, 2021 |
| D-NY | Jerrold Nadler | Original | Jun 11, 2021 |
| R-CO | Ken Buck | Original | Jun 11, 2021 |
| R-TX | Lance Gooden | Original | Jun 11, 2021 |
| D-GA | Henry C. "Hank" Johnson, Jr. | Jun 15, 2021 | |
| D-MD | Jamie Raskin | Jun 15, 2021 | |
| D-CO | Joe Neguse | Jun 15, 2021 | |
| D-MA | Lori Trahan | Jun 15, 2021 | |
| D-PA | Mary Gay Scanlon | Jun 15, 2021 | |
| R-FL | Matt Gaetz | Jun 15, 2021 | |
| D-NY | Mondaire Jones | Jun 15, 2021 | |
| D-WA | Pramila Jayapal | Jun 15, 2021 | |
| R-AZ | Paul A. Gosar | Jun 22, 2021 | |
| D-NY | Adriano Espaillat | Oct 12, 2021 | |
| D-MI | Andy Levin | Oct 12, 2021 | |
| D-MI | Rashida Tlaib | Oct 12, 2021 | |
| D-MD | Kweisi Mfume | Nov 1, 2021 | |
| D-CA | Katie Porter | Dec 7, 2021 | |
| D-ME | Chellie Pingree | Jan 11, 2022 | |
| R-GA | Jody B. Hice | Jan 18, 2022 | |
| D-MN | Ilhan Omar | Feb 15, 2022 | |
| D-CA | Barbara Lee | Feb 22, 2022 | |
| D-IL | Janice D. Schakowsky | Apr 4, 2022 | |
| D-CA | Mark DeSaulnier | Apr 14, 2022 |
Committees 1
Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.
| Chamber | Committee | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| House | Judiciary Committee | Referred Jun 11, 2021Markup Jun 23, 2021Markup Jun 24, 2021 |
Actions 5
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Jun 24, 2021Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
- Jun 24, 2021Ordered to be Reported (Amended).
- Jun 23, 2021Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
- Jun 11, 2021Introduced in House
- Jun 11, 2021Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Research
What has been written about this bill: committee reports, cost estimates, the sponsor’s authority statement, printed hearings and the Congressional Research Service’s work.
Congressional Budget Office cost estimate
- Nov 10, 2022H.R. 3826, Platform Competition and Opportunity Act of 2021As ordered reported by the House Committee on the Judiciary on June 24, 2021
Constitutional authority
The sponsor’s statement, as printed in the Congressional Record, vol. 167, no. 102, June 11, 2021, page H2710.
CRS reports 2
Congressional Research Service work that CRS links to this bill or the law it became, newest first.
Cite it 2
Products on other subjects that cite it, usually among other measures.
| Product | Title | Kind | Published |
|---|---|---|---|
| R46875 | Antitrust Reform and Big Tech Firms | Report | Nov 21, 2023 |
| R47228 | The American Innovation and Choice Online Act Archived | Report | Dec 2, 2022 |
Related bills 1
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| S 3197 | Platform Competition and Opportunity Act of 2021 | Related bill | Nov 4, 2021 |
Titles 2
Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.
- Official Title as Introduced
- To promote competition and economic opportunity in digital markets by establishing that certain acquisitions by dominant online platforms are unlawful.
- Short Title(s) as Introduced
- Platform Competition and Opportunity Act of 2021
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Commerce.
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Jun 11, 2021Introduced in House
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.
