Media reports indicate that Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and her fellow Democrats are pushing forward with antitrust bills that would grow government power over the economy, exacerbate Big Tech censorship, and blow a hole in the TikTok divestment law.
Republicans should vote “no.”
House Democrats are set to reintroduce the “American Innovation and Choice Online Act,” legislation that bans common business practices for companies over a government-determined size. AICOA bans targeted companies from promoting their own private-label products next to name brands. Despite what Democrats say, this is not a nefarious practice — Costco does this when it sells Kirkland tissues next to Kleenex.
Democrats are also expected to reintroduce the “Open App Markets Act,” legislation that bans app store owners from requiring app developers to use an in-app payment system owned by that company as a condition of entry into the app store. OAMA bans app stores from “unreasonably” preferencing its own apps over those of competitors without defining what “unreasonable” means.
Media reports indicate Democrats have slow-walked reintroducing these bills because recruiting Republican co-sponsors has been difficult. Here are three reasons why conservatives should reject AICOA and OAMA.
First, both bills give President Joe Biden’s weaponized antitrust agencies sweeping new power. Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Lina Khan has used her power to direct “economic outcomes.” Khan’s deputy, Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, has mused about using antitrust law to enact a “diversity, inclusion, and anti-racist” agenda. Department of Justice Antitrust Division chief Jonathan Kanter sues companies to benefit his former clients. Antitrust law is supposed to protect consumers, not advance progressive hobbyhorses or reward self-dealers. Further empowering these runaway agencies will backfire on conservatives.
Second, both bills would exacerbate conservative censorship online by putting Big Tech companies in a “Mother-May-I” relationship with Biden bureaucrats. As Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) has argued, if businesses have to ask the Biden administration’s “woke overlords” for permission to engage in routine business activity, bureaucrats could tell Silicon Valley censors to take down conservative posts as a condition of approval.
We saw this play out when Biden White House officials pressured Big Tech to take down conservative posts, using COVID-19 as an excuse. Democrats want to legalize Biden’s censorship-industrial complex to silence conservative views online permanently.
Third, AICOA and OAMA would both blow a massive hole in the TikTok divestment law Congress just passed. Under current law, TikTok has until January 2025 to divest from the Chinese Communist Party or face a ban on American app stores.
Both AICOA and OAMA impose government mandates of “sideloading,” the downloading of apps directly from websites. If either bill becomes law, all TikTok would have to do is find a foreign web host, and it would be able to continue to harvest American data without divesting from the CCP. Between now and January, TikTok would certainly spam users with instructions on how to sideload the app.
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Weaponizing antitrust law would not only harm conservatives but would help progressives achieve their ultimate goal of an economically dysfunctional European-style economy. To understand why this is a bad idea, just compare America’s economic growth rates and artificial intelligence competitiveness with Europe’s.
Democrats are actively trying to get conservatives on board with AICOA and OAMA, using legitimate anger at Big Tech censorship to seduce Republicans into climbing aboard their Trojan horses. Make no mistake about it: Klobuchar’s antitrust proposals would make life worse for conservatives, not better. Republicans should hold firm and continue to reject AICOA and OAMA.
Tom Hebert is director of competition and regulatory policy at Americans for Tax Reform and executive director of the Open Competition Center.