Biden’s executive order pushes for scrutiny of tech giants

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President Joe Biden signed an executive order Friday to stimulate more competition as the economy begins to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. The action will affect a wide range of industries – in particular, the technology industry.

Biden’s Executive Order “Enhancing Competition in the U.S. Economy” consists of 72 directives to federal agencies. With regard to the technology industry, the president has instructed the Federal Trade Commission to establish rules for surveillance and data accumulation, to prevent unfair methods of competition in online markets and to prevent restrictions on allowing independent repair shops to repair individual equipment, aka the right to repair. In addition, Biden announced a policy to further scrutinize mergers, singling out “dominant Internet platforms.”

“No more tolerance for abusive actions by monopolies,” Biden said at Friday’s news conference. “Capitalism without competition is not capitalism. It is exploitation.”

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Big tech companies are under more scrutiny by politicians and government agencies for buying them as competitors rather than competing with them. Facebook’s acquisition of photo app Instagram and messaging app WhatsApp, for example, has been the focus of antitrust complaints against the company. Last week, a federal judge dismissed lawsuits brought by the Federal Trade Commission and a group of state attorneys general that accused the social media giant of engaging in anti-competitive practices. The Federal Trade Commission can file an amended complaint.

Biden’s executive order also tracks how tech companies collect a range of personal data as part of their business. This has been a problem for Facebook and Google, among others.

Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

CNET’s Kenny Wong contributed to this report.

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