How big is too big?
antitrust  Flipkart  Google  In God we trust. Apple  Microsoft  the largest expansion of the federal government's antitrust powers in generations  American Choice and Innovation Online Act    Platform Competition and Opportunity Act    Ending Platform Monopolies Act    Augmenting Compatibility and Competition by Enabling Service Switching Act    State Antitrust Enforcement Venue Act  Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act  The situation in India  Whats important to note is that India doesnt actually have a law that can break up monopolistic companies  preventing a dominant company from abusing its power  ETtech DEALS DIGEST  A quick look at the  top deals of this week    OTHER BIG STORIES BY OUR REPORTERS  The US government, which is attempting the largest expansion of itspowers in generations, faced two setbacks in the battle to rein in Big Tech firms last week. Back home, Indias competition regulator has been investigating alleged anti-competitive behaviour by Amazon,, Facebook andfor some time.Join us as we get into the weeds and suss out the differences in how the two countries view -- and treat -- market-dominating companies.The US governments efforts to rein in Big Tech firms (Facebook,, Google, Amazon and, to a lesser extent,) were all over the news last week.On Monday, a US District Court dismissed a complaint that the Federal Trade Commission , the countrys antitrust regulator, had filed against Facebook late last year. The FTCs complaint had sought to undo Facebooks acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, alleging that the company had violated federal antitrust laws by buying up potential competitors. In his decision, the judge wrote that the FTC had not proven its primary claim -- that Facebook wields monopoly power. The ruling dealt a huge blow to the US governments antitrust case against Facebook.On Tuesday, things got even worse for the government. Democratic House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said a package of six bills aimed at reining in Big Tech -- which had passed the committee level the previous week -- werent ready for a vote in the full House . His comments were an indication that the legislation might not have enough support to be signed into law.The six bills, which represent, passed the House Judiciary Committee with rare bipartisan support but also faced opposition from members of both parties.Even once theyre ready for the House floor, the bills face an uphill challenge owing to opposition from centrist Democrats, who say some of them are too broad and could harm innovation.Tech companies and industry groups warned that four of the bills, which targeted Apple, Google, Amazon and Facebook, could end up destroying products that are popular with consumers.Here are the six landmark bills and what they aim to achieve.This bill is meant to bar major tech firms from giving their own products preference over competitors on their platforms. It also seeks to bar big platforms from using non-public data to support their own platform.It takes aim at Amazon, which has been found to be using data from third-party sellers to create competing products, and then placing them near the top of search results It would also force Google to tweak its search algorithm so that its own products dont get preference over those of competitors.This one would bar any platform with 50 million or more monthly active users in the US from holding more than 25% of a competitors stock or profits, with the aim of deterring them from buying out competitors.Facebook is clearly the primary target of this legislation. The company has long been accused of doing whatever it takes to retain its hold on the social media market, including copying, buying or killing competing apps This bill would make it illegal for a dominant platform to create its own products or services to out-compete sellers on its platform.If passed, the law could force Amazon to stop selling private-label brands and Apple to stop pre-installing certain apps -- such as Pages, Keynote, and Numbers -- on iPhones.It could even threaten Apples entire App Store businesses on the grounds that it is the only way for iOS users to download apps on their devices, and that Apply takes a hefty cut of all purchases.If all this sounds familiar, its because this legislation mirrors some of Indias latest draft e-commerce rules , which call for similar restrictions on in-house brands and seek to prevent large companies from selling on their own platforms through related parties.The Competition Commission of India (CCI) also launched an investigation in January 2020 over allegations that Amazon and Flipkart promoted certain sellers on their platforms and offered deep discounts that stifled competition. On June 12 this year, the Karnataka High Court dismissed Amazons and Flipkarts pleas to cancel the CCIs probe.The ACCESS Act is less controversial as it doesnt seek to carve up Big Tech firms. Rather, its goal is to give users of platforms such as Facebook and YouTube more control over their personal data. If passed, it would let a WhatsApp user -- for example -- to not just take their data with them if they choose to leave the platform, but also continue to chat with friends and family members that use it. It would be up to the platform to figure out a way to do this.This ones somewhat of a meta-law. Its goal is to stop Big Tech firms from shifting antitrust cases to courts they consider friendlier, while also increasing the cost of litigation.The purpose of this bill is to give the US government more resources -- $670 million to be precise -- to enforce antitrust laws. It would also increase the fees that Big Tech firms need to pay for large transactions.Apart from Amazon and Flipkart, WhatsApp and Google are also under investigation in India for alleged anti-competitive practices.On March 24, the CCI ordered a probe into WhatsApps practices, claiming the Facebook-owned platforms privacy policy update violated the provisions of the Competition Act on abuse of dominance. It said that requiring users to share certain data with Facebook seemed exploitative and could end up stifling competition.And on June 22, CCI ordered an investigation into allegations that Google was restricting the development and use of alternate versions of Android by making smart TV manufacturers sign restrictive agreements. These agreements, among other things, require manufacturers to preinstall several Google apps, and deny access to the Play Store app to forked versions of Android. CCI alleged that not allowing TV makers to choose which Google apps they would like to preinstall was an unfair condition under the Competition Act.. In fact the Competition Act, 2002 , unlike its Western counterparts, isnt against monopolies at all. Rather, it is aimed atto influence prices and control the market. It also regulates combinations (mergers and acquisitions) that have the potential to adversely affect competition.Like the draconian Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1969 that it replaced, the Competition Act is riddled with loopholes and vague terminology thats open to many interpretations. For instance, dominant firms could justify anti-competitive behaviour by claiming they are contributing to the countrys economic development. And when all else fails, companies can always seek refuge in the morass of Indias judicial system Incidentally, competition law is called antitrust law in the US and Canada because these laws were originally written in the late 19th Century to rein in large conglomerates formed using legal arrangements called trusts.Let's move on to other big developments of the weekHeightened interest among risk investors in the overall fintech sector, due to greater digital adoption triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic, is likely to help boost Ackos valuation.The funding comes at a time when risk investors are aggressively seeking a piece of Indias burgeoning online insurance industry, which is gaining from the transition to a digitised economy. Also read our explainer on the rise of insurtech in India and around the world Tiger Global, an investor in both Zomato and Grofers, will also participate in the $120 million funding round. The companies had explored a potential merger at the onset of the pandemic last year but the talks fell through. Zomato has now sought approval from India's competition watchdog to acquire a 9.3% stake in the e-grocer.This is among the largest cash exits for an Indian startup after Byju's bought WhiteHatJr for $300 million (about Rs 2,241 crore) in August last year.Quadria Capital, which has backed Nobel Hygiene and Encube Ethicals within the last one week, plans to deploy $400-500 million in India over the next 18-24 months.The proposals have the potential to help founders dilute stakes without losing control, make tax structures more efficient and help in succession planning.Ecommerce discounts on smartphones, apparel and groceries will be higher this quarter than a year ago as brands and marketplaces are rushing to liquidate stock and lift consumer sentiment ahead of the festive season.API Holdings' Siddharth Shah on whats next for Thyrocare after the PharmEasy deal, APIs existing online drug delivery business, and what he makes of deep-pocketed rivals Reliance and Tata Group. PharmEasy also got a $300 million booster shot , led by its existing investors, most of which will be used to fund its ongoing acquisition of diagnostic chain Thyrocare.We also spoke to A Velumani , promoter of Thyrocare, on his journey and what he plans to do next, having sold his 66.1% stake in the company to PharmEasy for Rs 4,546 crore last week.Restaurants are waking up to the potential of consumer data that rests with food aggregators Swiggy and Zomato. They are now focusing on direct orders through their own websites or listing it on platforms such as Dotpe and Thrive.While the financial details of the Reliance Jio-Google Cloud deal havent been disclosed, analysts peg it similar to Google's deal with Deutsche Bank, which has been one of the largest so far.CEO salaries at Indias mid-sized IT firms moved in tandem with the companies profits in a pandemic year, an analysis of annual reports shows. But how does that compare with the remuneration of an average IT employee?A strong industry-government partnership will be required to build the right processes and a robust framework for higher accountability, Menon said.Google was able to identify over 800 variations of vaccine names across 50 languages in seconds using Multitask Unified Model (MUM) that aims to simplify how people use its search engine for complex queries and research-based tasks.That's about it from us this week. Stay safe and get vaccinated when you get the opportunity.