For years, Apple banned Bitcoin. Now, it’s taxing NFT transactions at 30%, and banning the NFTs it can’t tax. We need a future where Big Tech gatekeepers like Apple and Google can’t ban a project or bury it under their own co-opted products in search results—and U.S. Congress could pass bills to do this before the year is out. Tell your elected officials to pass antitrust reform that would end big tech’s censorship of decentralized technology now.
John Oliver on Tech Monopolies
The Bills
“The Open App Markets Act [OAMA, H.R. 5017, S. 2710] would protect developers’ rights to tell consumers about lower prices and offer competitive pricing; protect sideloading of apps; open up competitive avenues for startup apps, third party app stores, and payment services; make it possible for developers to offer new experiences that take advantage of consumer device features; give consumers more control over their devices; prevent app stores from disadvantaging developers; and set safeguards to continue to protect privacy, security, and safety of consumers.” — Sponsors’ press release
“The American Innovation and Choice Online Act [AICOA, H.R. 3816, S. 2992] would … [prevent] dominant platforms from abusing their gatekeeper power by favoring their own products or services, disadvantaging rivals, or discriminating among businesses that use their platforms in a manner that would materially harm competition on the platform, [for example by] preventing another business’s product or service from interoperating with the dominant platform or another business; [by] requiring a business to buy a dominant platform’s goods or services for preferred placement on its platform; [by] misusing a business’s data to compete against them; [or by] biasing search results in favor of the dominant firm.” —Sponsor’s press release
More Information and Resources
- The antitrust fight is also a web3 fight
- What the antitrust proposals would actually mean for tech
- Amazon and Google deploy their armies to thwart antitrust bills
- How Big Tech got so big: Hundreds of acquisitions
- Small business holds key to tech’s antitrust fate
- Look Out, Big Tech, We’re Coming for You
- Big Tech antitrust report concludes that Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google are anti-competitive
- FTC Staff Presents Report on Nearly a Decade of Unreported Acquisitions by the Biggest Technology Companies
- The American Innovation and Choice Online Act – S. 2992, H.R. 3816
- The Open Apps Markets Act – S.2710, H.R.5017