(The Center Square) – New federal legislation that would strengthen antitrust enforcement of Big Tech is being criticized by business groups.
The American Innovation and Choice Online Act would prohibit tech companies from giving preference to their own offerings over competing products.
President Joe Biden urged for its passage during his most recent State of the Union address in February.
“Pass the bipartisan legislation to strengthen antitrust enforcement and prevent big online platforms from giving their own products an unfair advantage,” Biden said.
The legislation’s main idea is that a company that controls a marketplace shouldn’t be able to set special rules for itself within that marketplace, because competitors who object don’t have any realistic place to go.
In 2021, the bill didn’t make it to the U.S. Senate floor for a vote, something the primary sponsor, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, said was due to an incredible onslaught of money from lobbyists.
In Illinois, the Connected Commerce Council has voiced opposition to a new effort to reintroduce the measure.
Spokesperson Kristin Rae, who also owns Inspire Travel Luggage in Bloomington, said if enacted, the law would change how the digital economy works and make several small business digital tools more expensive and harder to use.
“How am I to connect with buyers across the country and be a more successful business if I can’t use digital tools and if the government impedes those tools in a way because they don’t understand how small businesses work,” Rae toldf The Center Square.
Rae said if Amazon can no longer integrate its fulfillment services with Prime, small business sellers lose the advantage of easily qualifying for Prime and the benefits that come along with it.
A 2022 Dartmouth College study found that the AICOA would be a financial catastrophe for small businesses, which would lose $500 billion, or $100,000 per small business, in the first five years of AICOA becoming law.
“I’m incredibly disappointed that some in Congress are determined to continue their crusade against leading technology companies no matter how it hurts small businesses like mine,” said Rae.
