Today, Representative Pramila Jayapal, Vice Chair of the House Antitrust Subcommittee, announced their legislation, to “hold unregulated Big Tech accountable for their anti-competitive conduct” against consumers, workers, and small businesses.
“A Stronger Online Economy: Opportunity, Innovation, Choice” consists of five bipartisan bills that were drafted by lawmakers from the Antitrust Subcommittee, after completing a 16-month investigation into the digital competition and unregulated power of Apple, Google, Facebook, and Amazon.
The five bipartisan bills can be viewed below:
- The American Innovation and Choice Online Act to “prohibit discriminatory conduct by dominant platforms, including a ban on self-preferencing and picking winners and losers online.”
- The Platform Competition and Opportunity Act “prohibits acquisitions of competitive threats by dominant platforms, as well acquisitions that expand or entrench the market power of online platforms.”
- The Ending Platform Monopolies Act eliminates the ability of dominant platforms to leverage their control over across multiple business lines to self-preference and disadvantage competitors in ways that undermine free and fair competition.
- The Augmenting Compatibility and Competition by Enabling Service Switching (ACCESS) Act promotes competition online by lowering barriers to entry and switching costs for businesses and consumers through interoperability and data portability requirements.
- The Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act updates filing fees for mergers for the first time in two decades to ensure that Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission have the resources they need to aggressively enforce the antitrust laws.
In May, Governor Ron DeSantis, also joined the fight, signing Senate Bill 7072, in an effort to stop the censorship of Floridians, and to make the voices heard, of any resident with alternative ideas, to which Big Tech chooses to censor. Bill 7072 gives power to Floridians to sue violators “up to $250,000 per day for some offenses”
Senator Josh Hawley, the man behind both the “Trust-Busting for the Twenty-First Century Act” and the “Bust Up Big Tech Act“, has been on the front-lines of the fight against Big Tech. In the past, he has introduced multiple pieces of legislation including data tracking, children’s online privacy, data monetization, social media bias, and social media addiction. He also recently released a book “The Tyranny of Big Tech” exposing how the Big Tech monopolies have become more powerful and influential than even our own Federal Government.
Senator Josh Hawley “A small group of woke mega-corporations control the products Americans can buy, the information Americans can receive, and the speech Americans can engage in. These monopoly powers control our speech, our economy, our country, and their control has only grown because Washington has aided and abetted their quest for endless power.” “Woke Big Tech companies like Google and Amazon have been coddled by Washington politicians for years. This treatment has allowed them to amass colossal amounts of power that they use to censor political opinions they don’t agree with and shut out competitors who offer consumers an alternative to the status quo. It’s past time to bust up Big Tech companies, restore competition, and give the power back to the American consumers.”
House Antitrust Subcommittee Vice Chair Pramila Jayapal.“Not only is self-regulation by Big Tech patently ineffective, but it also comes at the direct expense of workers, consumers, small businesses, our local communities, and the free press,” “From Amazon and Facebook to Google and Apple, it is clear that these unregulated tech giants have become too big to care and too powerful to ever put people over profits.”
Rep. Chip Roy “Filing fees for large mergers have not changed in 20 years yet merger activity, particularly in technology, is at or near all-time highs,” “As we evaluate what changes to make to our antitrust laws to adapt to a new marketplace, an obvious first step is fully enforcing our existing antitrust tools by providing regulators the resources they need to go up against companies with trillions in capital. I’m proud to cosponsor the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act to level this playing field.”
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler “The Committee’s bipartisan investigation into digital markets uncovered overwhelming evidence of anti-competitive conduct that has seriously impacted consumers and small businesses,”
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries. “We must also ensure that consumers can choose what online platform to patronize without one or two companies entrenching the entire market and removing all choice. The Platform Competition and Opportunity Act will help make a stronger online economy to benefit all Americans.”
Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon. “The ACCESS Act opens up digital markets to greater competition, which increases pressure on large online platforms to improve quality, privacy, and security. It’s past time to expand opportunities for consumers, workers, and small businesses by holding Big Tech monopolies accountable.”
Rep. Lance Gooden “Big tech has routinely suppressed conservative voices and violated consumers’ privacy,” “We must rein in their destructive behavior and preserve the constitutional rights of all Americans.”
Rep. Burgess Owens“There’s little question that Big Tech platforms are powered by massive troves of user data, over which consumers lack significant control. Americans deserve to have more ownership over their personal information with the ability to seamlessly transfer that data between platforms of their choice,” “I’m proud to join Representative Buck in taking action to put consumers back into the driver’s seat, cut Big Tech’s unchecked power, and level the playing field for smaller platforms in the marketplace.”
Congressman Joe Neguse “I’m proud to help unveil today’s bipartisan legislative agenda for a stronger online economy, a comprehensive set of bills that will expand opportunities for consumers, workers and small businesses by strengthening antitrust enforcement and addressing anti-competitive practices in the digital economy and beyond.” he added “Congress has a vital role to play to ensure that markets are working in a way that benefits consumers, small businesses, innovation and our democracy. Today’s legislative action is a critical first step in that process.”
Rep. Ken Buck. “Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google have prioritized power over innovation and harmed American businesses and consumers in the process.”
Chairman David Cicilline “The American people sent us to Washington to get things done. Nothing is more important than ensuring every American has an opportunity to get ahead,” “Right now, unregulated tech monopolies have too much power over our economy,”
Congress is giving the power to the people in the fight against Big Tech. In today’s modern world, Americans shouldn’t be silenced for their views. The magnitude of the monopoly of Big Tech appears to be winding downs their abilities are placed with more legal restriction. They no longer will be able to shape and control our society. That is not what America was founded on, nor is it conducive to having a physical Government, and laws that protect our human rights. It is specificity that leaves less ambiguity to what and what is not legally allowed in Big Tech, which can only be achieved by legislation against them.
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