According to reports in the early morning of April 16, the office of U.S. Congressman David Cicilline said in a statement on Thursday that the House Judiciary Committee had formally approved a report accusing large technology companies of acquiring or crushing small companies.

After a marathon hearing, the more than 400-page staff report was approved and will become an official report of the House Judiciary Committee and a blueprint for legislation to curb the market forces of companies such as Alphabet Inc-CL C, Apple Inc, Amazon.Com Inc and Facebook Inc, owned by Alphabet.

The report was approved by a vote of 24 to 17, showing a clear party line. These big technology companies have long denied any wrongdoing.

The report, first released in October, is the first such review of the technology industry by Congress. The report recommended extensive changes to the US antitrust law and dozens of cases alleging that these companies had abused their power.

"Amazon.Com Inc, Apple Inc, Alphabet Inc-CL C and Facebook Inc all hold monopolies on important areas of our economy, and this monopoly must be ended," Xicilin said in a statement. I look forward to the enactment of legislation to address the major concerns we have raised. "

The first bill was introduced in March, when a bipartisan panel of lawmakers led by Cicillin and Senator Amy Klobuchar introduced legislation designed to make it easier for news organizations to negotiate collectively with platforms such as Alphabet Inc-CL C and Facebook Inc. In addition, Clobuchal introduced a broader bill in the Senate in February to strengthen its ability to block mergers by lowering the threshold for blocking deals and providing more legal funding for antitrust law enforcement officers.

From the source, Cicillin's report was jointly developed by lawmakers of both parties and contains potential reforms to the Anti-Monopoly Law.

Republicans have long criticized large technology companies for allegedly censoring conservative comments, pointing out that Facebook Inc and Twitter have frozen or banned former US President Donald Trump from entering their platform. Despite their anger, most Republicans did not support the report's proposal to change the antitrust law, but discussed the issue of depriving social media companies of legal protection under section 230 of the Communications norms Act; (Communications Decency Act), which gives companies immunity from responsibility for content posted on their websites.

The legislative proposals in the report range from more radical, such as possibly banning companies such as Amazon.Com Inc from operating markets in which they also compete, to less controversial legislation, such as increasing the budget of the antitrust arm of the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the enforcement arm of the antitrust law.

In addition, the report urges Congress to allow antitrust law enforcement officers more room for manoeuvre to prevent companies from acquiring potential competitors, which is hard to do now.