A major antitrust bill aimed at reining in big tech companies is expected to be reintroduced in Congress, but insiders worry that key Democrats with close ties to Silicon Valley could undermine their own party’s agenda.
Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, is leading a push to revive the America Online Innovation and Competition Act, which would ban big tech companies from “self-favoring” their own services, such as when Google promotes its own shopping tools in search results while ranking rivals’ services lower.
Reintroducing AICOA is a “priority” for prospective sponsor Nadler, who wants to have the bill enacted by the end of June, a congressional source familiar with the matter told The Washington Post. The Senate version of the bill was reintroduced last year and co-sponsored by Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).
“The reintroduction will happen. They just need to get members together and work out the finer details,” said the source, who asked not to be named.
AICOA had broad bipartisan support in both the House and Senate and passed committee in 2022. But after intense lobbying by tech companies, including reports that Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai called lawmakers directly, the bill ultimately stalled without a vote on the floor.
Some supporters of the bill worry that a similar outcome could occur this time around during the current Congressional session, which already has a string of legislative priorities scheduled, including the Child Online Safety Act.
Senators are in “active negotiations” about potentially reintroducing AICOA, a Senate official familiar with the matter said, but the bill faces stiff opposition from Republicans and Democrats and is expected to face an uphill battle in both chambers of Congress, the official said.
Some sources said they were skeptical that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who controls the Senate agenda and refused to bring the bill to a vote last session, would support a push to reinstate AICOA.
Schumer, who is under investigation for his ties to major tech companies, was seen meeting with Google’s Pichai in his office last week. NBC News reported..
In 2022, Schumer’s office told antitrust advocates that he would bring AICOA to Congress if he could prove he had the 60 votes needed for passage. Politico reported at that time.
In a statement to The Washington Post, Senator Klobuchar said ensuring passage of the bill is a “critical priority.”
“We face a monopoly problem today, where dominant digital platform companies – some of the most powerful corporations in the history of the world – are abusing their power by favoring their own products and services, to the detriment of small businesses and entrepreneurs trying to compete online,” Klobuchar said. “There is bipartisan agreement that we must enact commonsense rules to spur innovation and increase consumer choice.”
In the House, several Republicans are being sounded out to replace former Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), who had previously co-sponsored the bill but left Congress earlier this year, people familiar with the matter said.
A spokesman for Nadler did not respond to a request for comment.
Another stumbling block is Rep. Lou Correa (D-Calif.), who last year became the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust subcommittee, but a senior Democratic aide said: He told CNBC It was a “huge windfall for technology companies.”
Correa has consistently resisted efforts to crack down on the industry, infuriating critics of Big Tech, including members of his own party, according to people familiar with the matter. His chief of staff, Rene Muñoz, is a former lobbyist for Amazon and Apple.
Correa has opposed AICOA and other tech antitrust bills in the past. Speaking to Politico At the time, he worried it would “essentially drive investment away from the sector” and “stifle the economy behind it.”
Digital rights watchdog Fight for the Future has been one of Correa’s most vocal critics: Last month, the group parked a sign truck outside a Correa fundraiser in Washington, D.C., urging the lawmaker to “stop defending big tech.”
“One pro-business lawmaker should not be able to block bipartisan antitrust legislation that has overwhelming support from voters across the political spectrum,” said Evan Greer, director of Fight for the Future.
Correa’s defenders point out that Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio currently chairs the House Judiciary Committee and exerts majority influence over the committee’s agenda, so any attempt to revive AICOA would require his approval.
Correa’s spokesman, Adriano Pucci, pushed back against criticism of the president’s stance on antitrust issues.
“Even when Democrats were in the majority, these outstanding bills never garnered enough support to pass, and there is no indication that these bills are at the forefront of the House Republican agenda,” Rep. Pucci said in a statement.
“Putting Main Street first and ensuring business owners have the tools they need to thrive is Senator Correa’s top priority, not pleasing outside groups backed by ‘Big Tech’s’ multi-billion dollar competitors or picking sides in a battle between tech’s billionaires,” Pucci added.
Critics also pointed to Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), another member of the House Antitrust Subcommittee and a vocal critic of antitrust enforcement against big tech companies.
In 2021, she declared that big tech antitrust legislation, including AICOA, would “do more harm than good to American consumers and the U.S. economy.”
As reported by the Washington Post, Rep. Lofgren, whose district includes Silicon Valley, has a daughter who works on Google’s legal team, and according to disclosures, she has received a whopping $374,000 from the company since 2015.
When reached for comment, Lofgren said he has “never shied away from championing consumer-first, privacy-centric technology issues.”
“I will oppose bills that are poorly written and do not serve my constituents,” said Rep. Lofgren. “In particular, the American Innovate Online Competition Act is a poorly written and flawed bill as introduced.”
Lofgren added that his daughter is not on Google’s antitrust legal team and it would be “false” to suggest that that has any bearing on her work in Congress.
Nadler is also trying to rally support for other stalled antitrust bills that were part of a highly publicized bipartisan bill sponsored by Buck and former Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) last Congress.
These include the ACCESS Act, which would require big tech companies to make it easier for users to transfer their data to other services, and the so-called “break-up bill,” which would allow the federal government to sue to break up big tech companies’ monopolies if a conflict of interest arises.
