Diane Bartz & David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters: Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ) blasted a law in Congress that bars tech giants giving preference to their business on websites. The bill, which prohibits them from giving preferential treatment to their companies on the sites of their competitors, was passed on Wednesday.

Media outlets reported that the Senate might vote on this bill in as little as one month. Despite heavy lobbying from Apple (NASDAQ; Chief Executive Tim Cook), the bill passed the Senate Judiciary Committee last January. Last year, it was also approved by the House Judiciary Committee.

Amazon said in a blog post https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/policy-news-views/antitrust-legislation-and-the-unintended-negative-consequences-for-american-consumers-and-small-businesses that the bill “jeopardizes two of the things American consumers love most about Amazon: the vast selection and low prices made possible by opening our store to third-party selling partners, and the promise of fast, free shipping through Amazon Prime.”

According to the company, Amazon is the only retailer that will be affected by this bill. To qualify for regulation, Amazon must have a market capital of at least $550billion. Walmart and other competitors would not be eligible (NYSE: Target CVS was excluded.

It added that Walmart’s 2021 annual revenue was $559 billion. This is nearly $90 billion less than Amazon. Walmart, despite being an online retailer and large retailer, is not included.

The measure, called the American Innovation and Choice Online Act by Senators Amy Klobuchar and Chuck Grassley was cosponsored by the senators. It is intended to help small business owners. Small businesses groups like the Main Street Alliance or Small Business Rising have supported the bill.

Amazon claimed that the bill would harm hundreds of thousands small businesses selling goods through its site. The large penalties for violating the law “would make difficult to justify Amazon’s offering a marketplace where sellers can participate.”

It said the bill would mandate “Amazon allow other logistics providers to fulfill Prime orders” and could make it “potentially impossible in practice, for Amazon and our selling partners to offer products with Prime’s” free two-day shipping.

Congress has been putting pressure on big tech companies like Meta Platforms Inc’s Facebook and Apple (NASDAQ:). This is because they are accused of abusing their enormous market power. There have been many bills to limit them, but none of these have ever become laws.