#AntitrustDay gains momentum: growing coalition of civil society, small businesses, and tech companies set for Day of Action this Monday
March 31st, 2022 – Today a coalition of small and medium sized technology companies, trade groups and nonprofits sent a letter to Congress urging them to vote “yes” on antitrust bills to restore competition and choice online.
The delivery of the letter comes ahead of a major day of action planned for this Monday, April 4th, backed by a broad coalition of human rights organizations, consumer protection groups, and small business advocates alongside tech companies including DuckDuckGo, Yelp, Match Group (Tinder, OK Cupid), Coalition for App Fairness, Automattic (WordPress, Tumblr), Patreon, ProtonMail, ActionNetwork, Tor, and Brave. Investors including Initialized Capital and YCombinator are also endorsing the effort.
See the page for #AntitrustDay here: AntitrustDay.org
First announced on March 23, #AntitrustDay has attracted dozens of participating companies and organizations that will be amplifying the action page (built by Fight for the Future) through social media, home page promotions, email outreach, and more, driving emails and calls to legislators in support of antitrust bills including AICOA and OAMA. For example, DuckDuckGo will link a call-to-action on its search engine results page and Yelp will place prominent links to the campaign page from yelp.com and the company’s mobile apps.
There is still time to join us. Businesses, civil society organizations and individuals can find out how to help pass these important bills and restore user control online at AntitrustDay.org
Evan Greer, director of Fight for the Future
“Big Tech companies have too much power. And they’re abusing that power in ways that undermine human rights and pose an existential threat to democracy. The Open Apps Market Act is an essential bill that ensures people have the basic right to choose what software they run on devices they own, and it pushes back on restrictive app store policies that have been a convenient censorship choke point for authoritarian governments. The American Innovation and Choice Online Act is a common sense measure to prevent the largest tech companies from stifling competition. These bills enjoy broad bipartisan support. It’s time for House and Senate leadership to do their jobs and move these bills to the floor.”
Luther Lowe, Senior Vice President of Public Policy, Yelp
“A bipartisan, overwhelming majority of Americans support strengthening our antitrust laws. It is time for Congress to pass narrowly tailored legislation to curb the most egregious forms of self-dealing by Big Tech. These reforms are long overdue.”
Katie McInnis, Senior Public Policy Manager, DuckDuckGo
“For too long, dominant tech companies like Google have employed anti-competitive tactics to stifle rivals and protect their status in the digital market. These self-preferencing tactics harm competition as well as consumers, as they deprive us of the innovations a competitive market would bring and make it hard for users to choose the services they want. It is time for Congress to help restore competition by acting on bills like the American Innovation and Choice Online Act.”
David Heinemeier Hansson, Chief Technology Office, Basecamp
“The big antitrust movement finally seems to be before us, and it’s not a minute too soon. We simply can’t spend another decade in darkness under the shadow of monopoly power. Basecamp has been along for the fight since Representatives Buck and Cicilline held their big-tech hearings a couple of years ago, and we’re here to support turning those findings into law.”
Rich Stables, CEO of shopping comparison site, Kelkoo Group
“Big Tech’s self-preferencing has forced small businesses to operate within a straitjacket, with some going to the wall as a result. Google’s playbook of ‘delay delay delay’ as seen in Europe and playing god with people’s livelihoods has to end. Today’s campaign launch is the strongest possible statement to monopolists who persist in promoting their own services and demoting competitors: equal treatment should be a basic principle, with competitors allowed the same opportunities as Google, and we will continue to fight until this is a reality. When this happens, consumers win too – with more choice and lower prices. The U.S is a key global market for commerce and innovation and we look forward to a brighter future for small businesses - and for the American Dream to become a reality again.”
Sridhar Ramaswamy, CEO and Co-Founder, Neeva
“For too long, Big Tech has exploited consumer data, abused market share, taxed small businesses, and stifled competition to remain the most powerful gatekeepers to our entire online experience. Contrary to what most people think, the biggest challenge to competing in search with a company like Google is not engineering, innovation, or capital but rather fair and equitable access to the market. It’s long overdue for Washington to act, and this bipartisan legislation will meaningfully rein in Big Tech’s anticompetitive behavior leading to a new era of competition and technological innovation.”
Rick VanMeter, Executive Director, Coalition for App Fairness
“Dominant tech companies have used their monopoly power to disadvantage rivals through tactics that harm competition and reduce consumer choice. Passing bipartisan bills like the Open App Markets Act would help consumers and app developers by promoting open and fair competition in the digital marketplace. The Coalition for App Fairness is proud to join this diverse group of organizations and stands with them urging Congress to consider legislation that would address the anticompetitive practices of big tech gatekeepers.”
Sumit Sharma, Senior Researcher, Consumer Reports
“The fair market rules proposed in S.2992 and S.2710 will mean consumers can more easily choose, install, and use alternative apps and online services; mix and match services from different providers; and break out of closed product ecosystems. The bills will allow permissionless technology innovation by all, not just the largest platforms, and provide the economic space for innovators and consumers to experiment with alternative business models and ways for paying for services. This increased competition and innovation will bring many benefits like enabling consumers to choose services that better match their needs and budget without compromising on privacy and security.”
Maria Langholz, Communications Director, Demand Progress
“We are approaching a make-or-break moment for revitalizing our democracy and restoring fair competition to our economy. Congress has has a critical role to play in modernizing antitrust enforcement to rein in the power of modern-day monopolies like Amazon and Facebook/Meta. We are mobilizing our members on this day of action because the window for reining in Big Tech’s dominance may soon be closing. Action cannot wait.”
Charlotte Slaiman, Competition Policy Director at Public Knowledge
“We no longer have an internet that is open enough for two college kids in a garage to start the Next Big Thing. Consumers are frustrated by the same old internet products and yearning for innovative alternatives. We need pro-competition reforms to open up digital platforms so they actually have to compete.”
Nicole Gill, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Accountable Tech
“Big Tech corporations have used small business owners as a shield against reform, avoiding accountability for too long. The truth is that every time the U.S. has enacted substantive antitrust legislation consumers have benefited, small businesses have grown, innovation has been strengthened, and competition has thrived. It is long past time to rein in Big Tech.”
Contact:
For press inquiries: Evan Greer, 978-852-6457, press@fightforthefuture.org