The top Republican on the House antitrust panel has backed Democrats’ strategy of introducing a flurry of new anti-monopoly legislation in order to prevent Big Tech companies such as Facebook, Google, and Amazon from defeating a larger legislative package, boosting the prospects for passage.
Rep. Ken Buck, a Colorado Republican and ranking chairman of the House antitrust panel, came out in favor of the multipronged approach championed by Democratic Rep. David Cicilline of Rhode Island, chairman of the panel.
“I commend Chairman Cicilline for his targeted strategy to stop Big Tech’s monopolistic and anticompetitive behavior,” Buck told the Washington Examiner.
“I look forward to continuing to work together on legislation that increases innovation and competition in the tech marketplace,” he added.
ANTI-BIG TECH ANTITRUST PUSH EXPECTED UNDER BIDEN
The high-level agreement makes it more likely that reforms to antitrust law and enforcement are enacted.
Antitrust laws are meant to protect consumers from anti-competitive mergers and business practices. The Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department are responsible for antitrust enforcement primarily through investigations, lawsuits, penalties, and fines.
Four key areas of antitrust reform that Buck is likely to champion in the bills, based on previous statements, are: increasing funding for antitrust enforcement agencies, allowing user data to be easily portable, forcing tech companies to ensure their products and services work with those of rival companies, and reforming the burden of proof in merger cases.
Cicilline said during an interview with Axios on Sunday that a single, massive antitrust bill would be an easier target for the tech companies to take down, while multiple more narrowly targeted bills, possibly more than 10, would also be more palatable to Republicans.
“If you look at the way these technology companies have staffed up with their lobbying and the money they’re investing in Washington, it’s designed … to prevent any changes to the current ecosystem that benefits them enormously,” Cicilline told Axios.
While Buck and Republicans on the antitrust panel have said there are a number areas of agreement with Democrats, one area of significant contention is content moderation on social media platforms.
In response to Cicilline’s antitrust agenda released at the end of last year, Buck said that it “does not address how Big Tech has used its monopolistic position in the marketplace to censor speech.”
Buck added that although censorship is experienced by individuals and groups across the political spectrum, the suppression of speech “is most notably realized through tech platforms exerting overt bias against conservative outlets and personalities.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Cicilline, however, told the Washington Examiner last month that Republican allegations of conservative censorship on social media were not a real problem and that it would not be productive to spend time focusing on it.
