The Open App Markets Act and the American Innovation and Choice Online Act failed to make it into the Senate appropriations committee’s year-end omnibus legislation, released early Tuesday. It does provide US$220 million in net new funding for staffing at the Federal Trade Commission. (The Logic)

Talking point: The two foregone acts together would have banned large digital platforms from favouring their own products and stifling third-party sellers. They also would have required Big Tech companies to make their offerings more interoperable and allow developers listing in their app stores to use alternate payment providers. Alphabet, Amazon, Apple and Meta advertised and lobbied hard against the bills. Ultimately, they didn’t make the lame-duck omnibus, despite bipartisan sponsors insisting they had the votes. That likely dooms the measures for the near term, since Republicans will take control of the House of Representatives in the new year and aren’t interested. Silicon Valley’s mammoth firms escaped tightening regulations at home, but they must still adapt their practices abroad, after the EU’s similar Digital Markets Act entered into force last month. Amazon on Tuesday settled a European Commission case over its use of sellers’ data.