Two bills are at the center of a battle against Big Tech giants’ dominance. The American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICOA) and the Open App Markets Act (OAMA) resulted in an all-out blitz from the tech industry, which has spent millions into expensive lobbying and advertising campaigns to stifle the legislation.
The sweeping antitrust proposals aim to battle against the Big Tech giants’ dominance by restricting the powerful tech companies from favoring their own products and services over rivals on their platforms. This could even lead to mandated breakups separating the Big Tech giants’ dominant platforms from their other businesses. For example, the AICOA antitrust proposal would prevent Amazon from steering consumers to its own brands and away from competitors’ products on its giant e-commerce platform. In addition, OAMA would limit gatekeeping of phone-based applications by the two dominant mobile phone makers, Apple and Google. OAMA also would prevent app stores run by Google and Apple from requiring developers to directly use their in-app payment systems. Also, limit Google and Apple’s ability to create rules regarding in-app pricing and fees for developers.
Some lawmakers expressed concerns that the bills could unintentionally impact consumers’ experiences on the big tech platforms. Apple CEO Tim Cook raised security concerns over sideloading which is the practice of downloading a mobile application from outside a major app store. Here is an opinion piece we found of interest relating to arguments against big tech antitrust legislation.
The Weak Argument Jeopardizing Tech Antitrust Legislation
In an opinion piece “The Weak Argument Jeopardizing Tech Antitrust Legislation” for Wired, Gilad Edelman, senior writer, discusses the argument of those who oppose any big tech antitrust proposals that it would prevent dominant platforms from enforcing their content policies, which in turn “would supercharge harmful content online and make it more difficult to combat.” Edelman points out in one proposed antitrust legislation says a “covered platform” such as Google, Amazon, Apple, Meta, or Microsoft cannot “discriminate in the application or enforcement of the terms of service of the covered platform among similarly situated business users in a manner that would materially harm competition.” He believes it does not appear to ban or limit content policies. Instead, it spells out that platforms can continue to enforce their terms of service just not in a discriminatory way. On its face, this means that a dominant platform can’t apply its rules unfairly against a company that relies on it to reach customers.
Edelman pointed out that David Cicilline, the top Democrat on the House Antitrust Subcommittee, mentioned that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act already gives companies legal immunity for content moderation decisions. The new proposed bill doesn’t change that law. Edelman believes that it is true that any new law (or indeed any existing one) can be abused as no piece of legislation is risk-free. He argues that trusting the platforms to do a better job regulating themselves than the government could do is how we got into this mess in the first place. Read the full article on Wired.
Disclosure: Fatty Fish is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
The Fatty Fish Editorial Team includes a diverse group of industry analysts, researchers, and advisors who spend most of their days diving into the most important topics impacting the future of the technology sector. Our team focuses on the potential impact of tech-related IP policy, legislation, regulation, and litigation, along with critical global and geostrategic trends — and delivers content that makes it easier for journalists, lobbyists, and policy makers to understand these issues.
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