We all know how Big Tech giants are violating our rights and undermining our democracy by putting their products and services above everyone else. There are currently two new bills  Congress is considering that will challenge Big Tech’s monopoly power. Do we want an internet where big gatekeepers abuse their monopoly power to stifle competition and enforce censorship or do we want the internet to be an open, super-highway of democratic information? These new bills will help fight back against big tech and build an internet that’s competitive.

That’s why we are joining Fight for the Future, DuckDuckGo, Protonmail, and other privacy-focused organizations and internet companies to call on US policymakers to pass much-needed legislation that aims to make the internet open so that everyone has a shot. Big Tech is scared of these bills and has already spent over $36,000,000 on ads to discredit these bills. Amazon has tried to persuade people into thinking these bills have negative consequences for American consumers and small businesses. Google also put out a blog post, claiming these new bills would compromise user security.

The truth is, that we have not seen these levels of monopoly since Germany in 1940’s when the power of the monopolies was seized by the nazi party. Let’s look at some actual facts…

The evolution of US antitrust law

Between 1982 and 2012, market concentration across these industries increased, while the number of companies has fallen. 

Source: The Hamilton Project

  • Manufacturing 9% 9%
  • Utilities 37% 37%
  • Finance 135% 135%
  • Retail 416% 416%
  • Wholesale trade 8% 8%
  • Service 47% 47%

Companies on the stock market are falling

From 1996 to 2016 the number of companies on the stock market has fallen by half. 

Source: Credit Suisse

1996

2016

Many companies now have significant influence over entire industries through take-overs and mergers.

Source: CNBC

  • 4 Airlines (Delta, American, Southwest, United Continental) 77.5% 77.5%
  • 4 Telecommunications companies (Sprint, AT&T, Verizon, Deutsche Telekom) 63.8% 63.8%
  • 3 Pharmaceutical companies (Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid) 68% 68%
  • 2 Beer companies (Anheuser-Busch, Molson Coors) 61.4% 61.4%

Summary of the Bills

The American Innovation and Choice Online Act – S. 2992, H.R. 3816
This bill prohibits certain large online platforms from engaging in specified acts, including giving preference to their own products on the platform, unfairly limiting the availability on the platform of competing products from another business, or discriminating in the application or enforcement of the platform’s terms of service among similarly situated users.

The Open Apps Markets Act – S.2710, H.R.5017
This bill establishes rules related to the operation of an app store by a covered company (i.e., the owner or controller of an app store with more than 50 million U.S. users).

 

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Organizations in support of the AntiTrust Bills

  • Automattic
  • Basecamp
  • Brave Software
  • Coalition for App Fairness
  • Disconnect, Inc.
  • DuckDuckGo
  • Efani Secure Mobile
  • Fathom Analytics
  • fuboTV
  • Function X
  • Kelkoo Group
  • Libro.fm
  • LI Toy & Game
  • Malloc Inc.
  • Match Group
  • Mio
  • Neeva
  • Presearch
  • Proton AG
  • Sonos
  • SparkToro
  • Spotify
  • StartMail
  • Thexyz
  • Tinder
  • Travel Tech Association
  • Tutanota
  • Yelp
  • YMOZ
  • You.com

 

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