Dear Majority Leader Schumer, Leader McConnell, Speaker Pelosi, and Leader McCarthy:
We write to you to express our support for bipartisan legislation to rein in Big Tech and urge you to pass these bills in the House and Senate without delay.
If enacted, they will mark a major step
forward in restoring competitive markets. They will help unlock the potential of Americans to
grow successful businesses and build an economy that is more prosperous, equitable, and
innovative. Furthermore, they represent our first opportunity in decades to rein in the runaway
power of the biggest, wealthiest, and least accountable corporations in the world.
These bipartisan bills reflect the culmination of a two-year investigation into the abuses of Big
Tech. Led by Chairs David Cicilline and Jerrold Nadler, and Ranking Member Ken Buck, the
investigation included 10 hearings, 240 interviews, 1.3 million documents, and a historic
450-page report. There was testimony from dozens of experts and representatives from the
corporations themselves, including the CEOs, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook, and
Sundar Pichai. In addition, the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee, led by Senator Klobuchar with
the support of Senators Grassley and Blumenthal, conducted 10 hearings studying the impact of
monopoly power of Big Tech on consumers and other market participants.
American Innovation and Choice Online Act (S.2992/H.R.3816): This bill will promote
innovation and competition by prohibiting dominant Big Tech platforms from anticompetitive
discrimination, self-preferencing, and excluding competitors to protect their monopolies and
leverage them into other lines of business. This will ensure that small businesses get a fair shot to
compete, innovators get to develop new products without fear of being crushed by Big Tech, and
consumers get more choice and quality on the platforms.
Open App Markets Act (S.2710/H.R.7030) : This bill will promote competition on large app
stores to increase choice, improve quality, and reduce costs for consumers by preventing the big
app stores from using gatekeeping power to require app developers to use a specific in-app
payment system or from unfairly promoting their own apps above those of competing app
developers. This will mean app developers will be able to stop paying huge fees to Big Tech and
compete on the app stores, and app users will be able to pay less for apps.
America has a monopoly problem, and the Big Tech monopolies have made it impossible to live
and work without using their products. Monopoly power lowers wages, reduces innovation and
entrepreneurship, exacerbates income and regional inequality, undermines the free press and
access to information, and perpetuates toxic systems of racial, gender, and class dominance. Big
Tech monopolies are at the center of many of these problems. Reining in these companies is an
essential first step to reverse the damage of concentrated corporate power throughout our
economy. These bipartisan bills will do just that, and it is imperative that they are enacted into
law urgently.
Americans support taking action against these companies. Recent polling found that 86% percent
of Democrats, 83% of Republicans and 79% percent of independents in California believe that
Big Tech companies should be held accountable through tougher laws to keep markets
competitive. In addition, 8 in 10 New York voters support strengthening or passing new laws to
hold Big Tech accountable and keep the internet safe and competitive.
We believe that these carefully crafted bills will bring urgently needed change and accountability
to the Big Tech companies and an industry that most Americans agree must be reined in. We are
proud to support this important legislation, urge you to bring the American Innovation and
Choice Online Act (S.2992/H.R.3816) and the Open App Markets Act (S.2710/H.R.7030) to a
vote as soon as possible, and encourage all members of Congress to vote to pass both bills.
Sincerely,
Economic Security Project Action
Accountable Tech
ALIGN
American Booksellers Association
American Family Voices
Artist Rights Alliance
Athena
Broward for Progress
Build Back Better USA
Center for American Progress
Center for Common Ground
Center for Digital Democracy
Center for Popular Democracy
Committee to Support the Antitrust Laws
CommonDefense.us
Consumer Federation of America
Consumer Reports
Demand Progress
Democratic Messaging Project
Demos
Empowering Pacific Islander Communities (EPIC)
Fight for the Future
Indivisible Burbank Media City
Indivisible New Rochelle
Indivisible Northern Nevada
Indivisible Ulster
Indivisible Westchester
Indivisible Westchester District 6&7
IndivisibleWeStand UWS
Institute for Local Self-Reliance
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
Jobs With Justice
Main Street Alliance
Media Alliance
National Employment Law Project
New York Communities for Change
NYCD16-Indivisible
Open Markets Institute
Our Revolution
People's Parity Project
Progressive Change Campaign Committee
Progressive Democrats of America
Public Citizen
Public Knowledge
Ranking Digital Rights
RootsAction.org
Service Employees International Union
Strategic Organizing Center
Surveillance Technology Oversight Project
The Democratic Coalition
The Tech Oversight Project
The Tor Project
UltraViolet Action
Upper East Side for Change
Venice Resistance
Warehouse Workers for Justice
Westchester United
Writers Guild of America-West
