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A bipartisan antitrust bill to crack down on big tech companies is facing new attacks as Minnesota Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar reviews the proposal in hopes of gaining the broader support needed to secure a vote on the Senate floor.
Ms. Klobuchar co-sponsored the American Innovation and Election Online Act with Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley to stop dominant platforms from favoring their own products and discriminating against alternatives in the platforms’ services. Apple and Google vehemently opposed such antitrust laws.
After Ms Klobuchar announced a new bill last week and the Democratic leadership reported that the proposal was taking a fresh look, critics of the bill drew their knives.
The liberal Progress Room, which has amassed Amazon, Apple, Google and Meta as partners, has failed to address privacy concerns while tearing up legislation as a vote for banks, credit card companies and the telecom industry.
Progress Room CEO Adam Kovacevich said Amazon, Apple and Google products could be harmed by the offer and that companies’ customers will be alarmed if they know the impact.
“You don’t see voters marching into Washington demanding that Congress make changes to Google Search results and Amazon Prime,” said Mr. “I think the swing state Democrats in particular understand this.”
Mr. Kovacevich declined to name specific Democrats in the state. His group ran illegal digital ads and declined to say how much was spent on ads.
Advocacy groups aligned with the technology are on key steps against the bill. For example, the Google-aligned Taxpayer Protection League and Connected Commerce Council criticized the revised bill for failing to address cybersecurity concerns and acting as a political showcase, respectively.
For Tom Hebert, the federal affairs executive for Tax Reform, conservative Americans also fend off the bill.
“Ultimately, after months of waiting, the updated version of S. 2992 makes very few significant changes that would increase the likelihood of reaching 60 votes in the Senate,” Mr. Hebert wrote last week. “Republicans shouldn’t need to help Klobuchar reach the ‘animal project’ finish line before the midterm elections.”
Other conservatives disagree. Internet Accountability Project founder Mike Davis said he believes the bill has 60 votes in the Senate and has a good chance of becoming law in a few months. Mr. Davis previously served as Mr. Grassley’s chief counsel.
“The big trillion-dollar tech monopolies, especially Apple and Google, are getting desperate in their attacks,” Davis said. “They are hysterically claiming that this law will disrupt the internet.”
Mr Davis said tech-aware groups’ attacks on legislation were “typical of gaslighting and big tech scaremongering” because they failed to win the debate over substance.
A base vote for the legislation is yet to be scheduled. The offices of Ms. Klobuchar and Mr. Grassley did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.
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