The companies announced the $3.9 billion deal on Thursday, which will give “Amazon a physical network of offices and healthcare providers, as well as access to the technology the start-up has built to enable virtual doctor visits.” my colleagues. Rachel Lerman AND Hamza Shaban report. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
Top antitrust advocates on Capitol Hill expressed deep concern that the acquisition poses a threat to competition.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) asked the Federal Trade Commission to “thoroughly investigate” the deal in a letter sent late Thursday. Klobuchar cited what she called Amazon’s “history of engaging in business practices that raise serious anticompetitive concerns,” including favoring their services.
“I also urge the FTC to consider the role of data, including as a potential barrier to entry, given that this proposed deal could result in the accumulation of highly sensitive personal health data in the hands of a company already data intensive,” Klobuchar wrote.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), another prominent Amazon critic, said the deal “should be deeply troubling to American families and antitrust regulators.”
“Amazon already has a lot of economic power, a terrible history with workers and alarmingly little clinical experience, which raises big questions about how this deal could affect consumer prices and health care choices,” Warren said in a statement to The Technology 202.
While Amazon’s deal to buy One Medical marks a “major expansion of the tech giant’s move into healthcare,” as Rachel and Hamza write, the provider is dwarf in size from healthcare giants like CVS, UnitedHealth and Cigna.
Krista Brownsenior policy analyst at the progressive antitrust group the American Economic Freedom Project said their concern is not that Amazon will immediately become a medical giant, but that the acquisition will give the giant access to troves of user data – and another step up. over competitors.
“I think it’s a data play for Amazon, where it’s going to drive their ad marketplace, it’s just going to give them one more set of controls on hundreds of thousands of individuals,” she said.
Amazon spokesperson Angie Quennell said in a statement that “the deal is not closed and nothing is changing today,” including One Medical’s “obligations” to comply with federal laws surrounding sensitive health care data and other regulations.
“As required by law, Amazon will never share personal health information of One Medical customers outside of One Medical for purposes of advertising or marketing other Amazon products and services without express permission from the customer,” Quennell added.
Amazon noted in its announcement that the deal is subject to typical regulatory approval.
The deal does not significantly expand Amazon’s market share, but supporters of antitrust reform have argued that the tech giants own so much data that it serves as a barrier to entry for potential rivals.
It’s a relatively new and untested legal theory in competition policy, lawyers said, but it’s one that could lead to a lawsuit if regulators follow through and challenge the deal.
Vice president Lina Khana prominent critic of Amazon, the FTC has renewed its antitrust investigation of Amazon and is reviewing its mergers, including its blockbuster MGM deal.
Neil Chilson, senior researcher at the libertarian nonprofit Stand Together, disputed the notion that Amazon’s acquisition would harm competition.
Instead, he said, Amazon could be an “upstart” that brings “desperately” needed innovation to the sprawling health care industry.
“Amazon will be a small player… [competing in] one of the most entrenched industries in the country, and I think I welcome that. I think that’s a sign of healthy competition,” said Chilson, who served as acting chief technologist at the FTC during the Trump administration.
Chilson also said critics were overstating the risks posed by a company like Amazon gaining access to more user data and downplaying the benefits.
“Data is a powerful tool for often pro-competitive uses, and so the reason a company would often merge is to gain access to more information so they can serve those consumers in a comprehensive way,” said he.
Facebook is overhauling its news feed to compete with TikTok
The change will boost content from creators over friends’ posts as part of an effort to draw users’ attention away from rival TikTok. Naomi Nix reports. Facebook users will still be able to find recent posts from friends, family and groups in a feed tab, but the default screen will display content from external creators, offering posts from the video service in the form of short Reels and transient video Shorts service.
“During the last three months of last year, Facebook reported that it lost daily users for the first time in its 18-year history, sending its stock price plummeting,” writes Naomi. “While the number of social media user growth remained stable earlier this year, company executives have said they are focusing their energies on gaining the attention of young people,” writes Naomi. On the other hand, TikTok’s US user base has grown to more than 110 million, she reports.
Facebook has pointed to TikTok as a major competitor while fending off accusations that it is a monopoly. It has also targeted the short-form video app by hiring Republican consulting firm Targeted Victory to turn Americans against TikTok, The Post reported this year.
YouTube introduces new ban on abortion-related misinformation
YouTube will no longer allow users to post videos that promote or provide instructions for “unsafe or alternative” ways to perform abortions that health authorities don’t support, CNN Clare Duffy reports. The company also will not allow users to post misinformation about the safety of abortion procedures.
The policy change comes as researchers warn that the information abortion seekers find online may be confusing or even dangerous in the wake of the Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade.
YouTube will also direct users who search for and watch abortion-related videos to health authorities such as the National Library of Medicine, Duffy reports.
FCC is targeting robocalls promoting car warranties
The Federal Communications Commission is ordering telecommunications providers to stop making calls from a group of people it says were responsible for 8 billion such calls since 2018, CNN Brian Fung reports. It marks the first order forcing providers to stop making calls; The FCC previously notified telecom firms about the calls.
Many automated calls without the recipients’ consent are illegal under US law, CNN reports.
As part of its scheme, the group bought access to nearly half a million phone numbers from more than 200 area codes in the fall and winter of 2020, the FCC said, and then used them to tell recipients that robocalls were coming from local numbers,” writes Fung. The FCC noted that they are still making millions of illegal calls every day, Fung reports.
Twitter users imagined the promotional opportunities that could come from Amazon’s acquisition of One Medical. journalism Tonya Riley:
journalism Matthew Zeitlin:
Technology columnist Joanna Stern:
SEC Blocks Coinbase Insider Trading Case Arguing Coins Are Securities (Tory Newmyer)
Amazon breaks lobbying record amid antitrust fight (Bloomberg)
Apple CEO Cook uses his star power to fend off antitrust threat (Bloomberg)
TikTok’s Chinese owner boosted US lobbying spending by 130% this quarter (CNBC)
GOP AG asks Google not to limit anti-abortion center’s results (Associated Press)
Activision Blizzard staff walk out, protesting loss of abortion rights (Shannon Liao)
Leaked document shows how Amazon managers evaluate employee performance (Insider)
Snap announces plans to cut jobs after posting dismal results (Financial Times)
Yes, Crypto Twitter, The FBI Is Reading Your Tweets (The Verge)
- Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Rostin Behnam discusses cryptocurrency regulation at a Brookings Institution event on Monday at 2 p.m.
- A House Homeland Security Committee panel holds a hearing on the use of facial recognition technology by U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Wednesday at 2 p.m.
- Senate Commerce Committee to debate child privacy and safety legislation Wednesday at 10 a.m.
that‘That’s all for today – thank you so much for joining us! Be sure to tell others to subscribe of technology 202 here. Get in touch with tips, comments or greetings I tweet or email.
