This past year, we’ve seen a revival of interest in U.S. antitrust law. In just a short period of time, Congress has put forth a series of bills aimed at holding Big Tech — Google, Amazon, Meta and Apple — accountable for their unrivaled market power. Among these bills is the bipartisan American Innovation and Choice Online Act, which would prevent Big Tech from abusing its gatekeeper status to stifle competition and empower our nation’s adversaries.
This bill is a natural, necessary consequence of changing market conditions. Since the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, antitrust law has played an important role in protecting small businesses and consumers. Our laws have not kept pace with the rapid rise of these tech firms. Big Tech’s abuses are felt across all industries, and our collective experience in serving citizens of Texas leads us to the conclusion that Congress must pass this new common-sense bill to prevent further damage.
Big Tech and its allies claim that any efforts to rein in their dominance are a threat to small business. In a last ditch effort to thwart this legislation, Google and Amazon advertised support from a coalition of small business supporters known as the “Connected Commerce Council.” Unsurprisingly, the coalition isn’t legitimate. Reporting from Politico found that dozens of coalition “members” had never even heard of the council. Even less surprising, it was funded by Google and Amazon themselves.
It’s no secret as to why Big Tech would need to fabricate a group of small business supporters. At its core, this bill is designed to uplift small businesses and correct the abusive behavior of Big Tech. Given these crass tactics we’re hopeful that Sen. Ted Cruz and the rest of the Texas congressional delegation will back the proposal.
Google has complete dominance over advertising on its platform, controlling both ad sales and purchases. Amazon’s monopoly over consumer goods all but forces small businesses to use its service, where it can then charge billions in yearly seller fees. Faced with limited choice, small businesses must either play by Big Tech’s rules, or go bankrupt.
Additionally, Big Tech is undermining national security by consistently supporting our main competitor, China. For example, Google rejected a drone contract with the U.S. government after employee backlash, while simultaneously opening an artificial intelligence lab in China. This isn’t a one-time occurrence. Google also agreed to produce a censored search engine for China.
Whether it be Amazon censoring reviews to appease the Chinese Communist Party or Apple storing Chinese data on state-owned servers, Big Tech is willing to cater to some of our biggest adversaries for cheap labor and wider markets. If supporting the Chinese military means gaining access to the Chinese market, they’re unfortunately willing to do so.
The problem we face isn’t new. In the 1990s, Microsoft made many of the exact same arguments about consumer welfare, innovation and global competitiveness when faced with antitrust scrutiny. But Microsoft lost, and what happened? Small startups such as Google, Amazon, Apple and Facebook had the opportunity to enter a once-consolidated market. Microsoft itself benefited from an antitrust case against IBM in the early 1980s.
The American Innovation and Choice Online Act is a commonsense, bipartisan bill aimed at finally holding Big Tech accountable for its malpractice. These giants have supported China, suffocated small businesses and abused consumer data for far too long. It must end now.
Linda Harper-Brown, Dan Flynn and Jodie Laubenberg served in the Texas House of Representatives. They wrote this for The Dallas Morning News.