U.S. Antitrust Bill Expanded to Include TikTok, Tencent’s WeChat
- Senate Judiciary Committee will take up measure on Thursday
- Tech giants would face restrictions on favoring their products
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A technology-focused antitrust bill set to be considered by a U.S. Senate committee Thursday will be expanded to include China’s two largest social media companies -- a change that seeks to address criticism that the legislation would give an advantage to foreign digital firms.
The bill’s criteria for a covered platform will be expanded to include companies that have 1 billion worldwide monthly users or $550 billion in net annual sales, in addition to the existing $550 billion market capitalization-threshold. These new criteria would capture ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok and Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s WeChat.