A technology-focused antitrust bill set to be considered by a US 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 one billion worldwide monthly users or US$550bil (RM2.30 trillion) in net annual sales, in addition to the existing US$550bil (RM2.30 trillion) market capitalisation-threshold. These new criteria would capture ByteDance Ltd’s TikTok and Tencent Holdings Ltd’s WeChat.