Anti-trust reform has long been one of the answers politicians give in response to the question about how to rein in Big Tech with regard to accusations of them blocking conservative viewpoints. But some question whether the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (S. 2992) is the best way to resolve the concerns.
Ashley Baker, director of Public Policy at the Committee for Justice, a group opposing the bill, says S. 2992 would not break up Big Tech firms, nor would it prohibit them from canceling any speech on their platforms with which they disagreed.
“If this bill were law, not a single company would be required to do anything different to conservative speech on their platform,” Baker said. “Furthermore, the behavior that the bill seeks to regulate is not anti-competitive. Companies that are not covered under the bill promote their own products and services, both in stores and online, every day. If it is the behavior that is the problem, then the bill wouldn’t apply to just a handful of companies.”
During the recent mark-up of S. 2992 in the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said Big Tech’s “censorship is a threat to the First Amendment.”
S. 2992 would give additional powers to government oversight agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), chaired by Lina Khan. Last October, Khan proposed a four-year strategic document for the FTC that dramatically shifted goals toward "marginalized" communities, citing increased focusing on the "under-served," and prioritizing social "equity."
Accountable Tech supports the bill. “We wouldn't be supporting this bill if we felt it threatened platforms' ability to properly enforce their rules to safeguard people from harm,” said Jesse Lehrich, co-founder of Accountable Tech, to Protocol in January. The organization states on its website that it is "working to bring about long-term structural reform to tackle the existential threat social media companies pose to our information ecosystem and democracy."
Others are not so sure, with one critic saying that not only will the antitrust bills being considered in Congress not prohibit tech “cancel” culture, but they may do the opposite.
“If passed, [S. 2992] will be enforced by the Federal Trade Commission, led by Lina Khan, who has argued that increased antitrust enforcement would harm a Big Tech business model that ‘incentivizes the dissemination of disinformation.’ One of Khan's senior advisors is Meredith Walker, who has called the Daily Caller a ‘hate site,’” Richard Hanania, president of the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology, wrote in a February Newsweek op-ed.
CNBC reports that the bill would prohibit platforms such as Google, Amazon and Apple, and possibly social media platforms, from what's called "self-preferencing." This means they could not discriminate against businesses that do not use their services.
The bill passed on a 16-6 bi-partisan vote. The Republicans who voted to advance the bill were Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and John Kennedy (R-La.). The bill is sponsored by Democrat U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.
“It is disconcerting to see some Republican senators who are angry at Big Tech for unrelated reasons supporting this bill, when they know it will empower and embolden progressives at the Federal Trade Commission and in the Biden Justice Department bent on targeting all sectors of the economy,” Baker said. “The bill would give left-leaning bureaucrats unprecedented power to manipulate the free market and the design of consumer products and services. At worst, that power will be used to advance political and social agendas that have nothing to do with promoting competition or advancing consumer welfare."