A coalition of 13 different think tanks and protagonism groups penned anopen letterto the U.S. House Judiciary Committee on Monday warning lawmaker about two major antitrust bank note that lawmakers are set to vote onlater this week . Instead of wrangling Big Tech , the letter says , these bills would “ dramatically degrade ” if not instantly break the gizmos and gadgets we love using every twenty-four hour period .
“ We believe that elector require Congress to fix things that are break — not break or ban thing that they palpate are working well , ” the letter reads . “ We powerfully encourage you to refuse these proposals . ”
What that letter ( naturally ) leave out , however , is how every org that signed this letter is , in some agency , being fund by the same company that would be subject to the provisions of the visor in enquiry .
Photo: Chip Somodevilla (Getty Images)
The two visor were part of thefive - bill packageunveiled by a two-way group of lawmaker to begin with this month , that all collectivelyhope to hamperthe steely grip major technical school companies hold over the market . The first bill that ’s address in the alphabetic character , the “ American Innovation and Choice Online Act , ” was introduced by antitrust subcommittee chair Rep. David Cicilline , and the 2nd is the “ Ending Platform Monopolies Act , ” which is spearheaded by Rep. Pramila Jayapal .
Among other things , Cicilline ’s bill would make it illegal for a troupe to betray a religious service as a condition for access to its ( dominant ) platform , like the way Google requires advertisers to pay for Google - trademark advertising product when they’reinevitably forcedinto using Google ’s ad platform . This bill would also keep a platform from preferencing any of their own smaller business in a way that the platform ’s customer ca n’t compete with , the same way Amazonrepeatedly liedabout doing for age .
Jayapal ’s bill , meanwhile , is similarly meant to dissuade the largest platforms — those with at least 50 million monthly active users in the U.S. and a securities industry roof of at least $ 600 billion — from possess a business that competes against the smaller operator that use that weapons platform . Amazon and its cavalcade ofprivate recording label brandswould be particularly affected , as wouldApple and its app store , among others .
These bills , in other tidings , seem to be secure . They ’re impertinent to focus on a few of big tech ’s major ills , rather than taking the unspecific swipes that Republican and popular lawmakershave arguedabout in the past . They ’re smart to point a select few tech society withoutsized influence , rather than literally every tech org under the Dominicus . The coalition behind the aforementioned letter , however , disagrees .
“ We share your goal of promoting rivalry online and protecting consumer , but legislation advise by Reps . David Cicilline and Pramila Jayapal would dramatically cheapen services which hundreds of trillion of Americans practice every day , ” it reads .
“ Both Rep. Cicilline ’s ‘ American Innovation and Choice Online Act ’ and Rep. Jayapal ’s ‘ Ending Platform Monopolies Act ’ would prevent Apple , Amazon , Facebook , Google , and Microsoft from offer integrated tech conveniences to consumer . ” As it turns out , these are ( just a few ! ) of the technical school company pour M and thousands of dollar into the letter of the alphabet ’s 13 signatories .
We ’ve briefly laid out each of their connection to Silicon Valley below :
Chamber of Progress , a technical school policy trade group start by ex - Google policy lead Adam Kovacevich that brands itself as “ center - left , ” and lists incorporated partners like Amazon , Facebook , Uber , and Google on itshomepage . When asked in an interviewwith Protocolwhether he could divulge how much money these partner orgs were lead on the even , Kovacevich flatly responded “ no , ” saying that “ most connexion do n’t do that . ”
The Computer and Communications Industry Association , a DC - based lobbying chemical group that ’s spend amodest few thousandlobbying the likes of Cicilline and other phallus of the antitrust subcommittee . Amazon , Facebook , Google , and Uber are among the due - paying memberslisted on its website ,
The Connected Commerce Council , a non - profit lobbying group that ’s been known to bleed op - edssinging the praisesof tech party ’s tools for small businesses , and whose leaders display board isstuffed to the gillswith current and former lobbyists for Google and Amazon .
The Consumer Technology Association , a lobbying group reppingmore than 2,000tech companies , andcharging them between$80 to $ 40,000 per year for that privilege . Itsmany , many membersinclude Google , Facebook , Amazon , Airbnb , Lyft …
The Developers Alliance , a Virginia - basedlobbying groupthat includes Facebook and Google among its due - payingmembers .
The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation , a DC think - army tank with astoried historyof whining about negative tech reportage . Amazon , Facebook , and Google are among itslisted supporters .
NetChoice , a technical school - centric trade groupbackedby the same list of conversant faces ( Amazon , Facebook , Google ) and a few Modern ones ( Etsy , TikTok ) .
The Taxpayers Protection Alliance , which ispartially bankrolledby two major phone service industry craft mathematical group ( the Internet and Television Association and the Wireless Association ) that would have justas much to loseas some of the aforementioned technical school companies .
TechFreedom , a ( very tacky ) tech policy think tank that ’s amongGoogle ’s bighearted listof trade groups and advocacy orgs getting “ the most material contributions ” from the company ’s public policy team .
The R Street Institute , a DC - based think cooler that ’s also on Google ’s Big List O ’ donor .
TechNet , a “ home , bipartisan net of technology CEOs ” that , naturally , admit CEOs from some of yourfavorite companiesthat were already listed in this precise clause .
Americans for Prosperity , which does n’t have any straight-out tie to the big technical school companies it breathlesslythrows itself behind , but was literally founded bythe Koch brothers . see howGoogleandFacebook , in peculiar , have reasonably deep ties to the Koch family’ssprawling webof political advocacy orgs , it ’s not surprising find another one on this listing .
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