U.S. House of Representatives panel schedules antitrust hearing with acting FTC chief Colorado AG

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust panel will hold a hearing on Thursday to discuss tightening antitrust laws, with witnesses included the acting chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission and Colorado’s attorney general, the committee said in a statement on Monday.

Witnesses will include FTC Acting Chair Rebecca Slaughter and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser. Last year, the FTC sued Facebook for allegedly violating antitrust law, and Colorado was among the states that sued both Facebook and Alphabet’s Google.

The statement said other witnesses included Court of Appeal judge Diane Wood and Mike Walker from the UK Competition and Markets Authority.

The statement said other witnesses may also be called.

Rep. David Cicilline, who chairs the subcommittee, said he would introduce antitrust bills. The statement said the hearing is one in a series discussing potential legislation.

The discussions come at a time when there is a push for stricter antitrust enforcement, particularly with respect to Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google. It also follows federal and state lawsuits against Facebook and Google, accusing them of breaking antitrust laws.

(Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Chris Reese)