The AICOA is an antitrust bill that seeks to regulate the rampant data collection and unchecked monopoly of the biggest tech companies in the country. If passed, the law would limit Big Tech’s ability to “self-preference,” culminating in an unprecedented change in the tech space. The legislation was introduced in the House of Representatives last year and was expected to be tabled for a vote before the congressional recess in August, but that never happened. Some pundits are pessimistic that the bill may never become law, as Big Tech aggressively lobbies against it.
Letter to Congress
In their letter to Congress dated September 13, the pro-privacy companies implored the house to put the bill to vote “as soon as possible.” “Massive tech platforms can exert influence over society and the digital economy because they ultimately have the power to collect, analyze, and monetize exorbitant amounts of personal information,” the letter reads. “This is not by accident, as some of the tech giants have intentionally abused their gatekeeper positions to lock users into perpetual surveillance while simultaneously making it difficult to switch to privacy-protective alternatives.” According to proponents of the antitrust bill, if the law passes, competition in the market would be much fairer for smaller companies, and surveillance would reduce significantly. However, Big Tech has argued that passing the AICOA would hamper innovation and give the upper hand to China, the Washington Post said.
Widespread Support for the Bill
Meanwhile, the historic bill has received support from Democrat and Republican lawmakers, including Senators Amy Klobuchar and Chuck Grassley, as well as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. After a judiciary committee report was released in July, highlighting the anti-competitive practices of some of the biggest tech companies in the country, Sen. Klobuchar reaffirmed her support for the bill. Big Tech “use their dominance to unfairly disadvantage their rivals, all at the expense of competition and consumers,” she said in a statement. The AICOA is one of several other pro-privacy bills that have been in the works in recent years. The bill focuses on websites, apps, operating systems, digital assistants, or online services that deal with user-generated content, sales of goods, services, advertising, or online search functions. The bill only applies to companies with a market cap of at least $550 billion (in the past 12 months) and serve at least one billion global users. It mainly focuses on companies that “have the ability to act as a gateway for other businesses to reach customers,” Bloomberg said.
Big Tech’s ‘Self-Preferencing’ Under Threat
Perhaps, the most notable regulation in the new bill is one that limits Big Tech’s ability to “self-preference” — tip the balance towards their products in rankings, reviews, design, or search. This means that, for example, Microsoft would not be able to plug their video games higher in the Xbox Marketplace. It would also mean that Google may be prohibited from pre-installing its products on Android smartphones. At the beginning of this year, Apple said antitrust bills like the AICOA and the Open App Markets Act could harm the integrity and security of iPhone users. However, this claim has been dismissed by senators as a ploy to preserve the company’s monopoly of the App Store. Whether the bill passes and what sort of reception it will receive in the US Senate is uncertain. However, after receiving a stamp of approval from the Department of Justice earlier this year, the momentum is undeniable. This bill is the closest the US has come to regulating four of the world’s five most valuable companies. At VPNOverview, we value the right to privacy. It is a fundamental human right per the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. You have the right to opt for privacy-focused search engines like DuckDuckGo and privacy-focused browsers over Google’s products. For more information about online privacy in the US, check out our survey of US lawmakers on the state of online privacy under President Joe Biden.
