Letters

Letter: Schumer Should Hold Vote On AICO

Dear Majority Leader Schumer:

On behalf of all the American people whose economic lives are impacted by the concentrated market power of Big Tech, we’re pleased by a recent report that states you plan to bring the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICO) to the floor in the current session.

This key antitrust regulatory bill would prohibit tech giants like Google, Amazon, Apple, and Facebook from privileging their own products over those of competitors, the very issue that has triggered a Justice Department investigation of Google.

As you know, AICO passed the Senate Judiciary Committee overwhelmingly. This bipartisan legislation has strong support in both parties, spanning the ideological spectrum in the Senate. That support is also mirrored by the general public, with poll after poll showing supermajority approval.

It’s no wonder the general public wants to rein in Big Tech. These companies have exploited their dominance and unfairly used monopoly power to crush rivals and stifle innovation. They regularly abuse user data and disregard consumer privacy. Reports of worker abuse at the tech giants are rampant. And the social media platforms that fuel these companies’ bottom lines have spread hate and disinformation, while negatively impacting our kids’ mental health.

AICO by itself won’t end Big Tech’s anticompetitive behavior. But this bill is a critical step toward holding these giant companies accountable and Americans deserve to see it enacted. We also urge you to bring to a vote the Open App Markets Act, which will set rules to protect competition and consumers within the app market.

Big Tech is spending millions on lobbying and ad campaigns to spread lies about antitrust legislation, because these corporations will do anything to avoid accountability. But it’s important to note that AICO only applies to companies with total stock values greater than $550,000,000,000, and is written to explicitly protect privacy and security. Big Tech’s lobbyists claim that AICO will harm American competitiveness but the truth is that anti-competitive and monopolistic behavior by tech giants have harmed smaller businesses and weakened the economy for everyone else.

This is an opportunity to pass legislation that will immediately result in a concrete increase in competition in an industry that touches the lives of every American, and we must not pass it up. We are pleased that you intend to bring AICO to the floor, and urge you to act as quickly as is practical.

Sincerely,

American Family Voices
Athena
Center for Digital Democracy
Courage California
Demand Progress
Economic Security Project Action
Fight for the Future
Friends of the Earth U.S.
Greenpeace USA
Institute for Local Self-Reliance
Main Street Alliance
Media Alliance
Open Markets Institute
OpenMedia
The Other 98%
Our Revolution
People’s Parity Project
Progress America
Public Citizen
Public Knowledge
Rootsaction.org
Social Security Works
The Tech Oversight Project
The Utility Reform Network
Writers Guild of America West