{"id":2235,"date":"2022-04-04T14:53:43","date_gmt":"2022-04-04T18:53:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thexyz.com\/blog\/?p=2235"},"modified":"2022-04-08T08:05:21","modified_gmt":"2022-04-08T12:05:21","slug":"today-is-antitrustday-lets-put-a-stop-to-big-tech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thexyz.com\/blog\/today-is-antitrustday-lets-put-a-stop-to-big-tech\/","title":{"rendered":"Today is #AntiTrustDay, let’s put a stop to Big Tech"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today businesses, civil society organizations, (including Thexyz), and everyday internet users are uniting for Antitrust Day<\/a><\/strong>. The coalition, led by Fight for the Future, is a group of nonprofits, tech companies, and internet users are uniting in calling on Congress to end tech monopolies.<\/p>\n

Companies like Facebook, Google, Apple, and Amazon control a huge portion of the internet and the technology we use every day. These companies abuse their gatekeeper status to undermine human rights, distort democracy, exploit our personal data, censor content, and stifle competition. The #AntiTrustDay group is also condemning tech giants such as Amazon and Google for reportedly running fake grassroots campaigns that claim to have the support of small businesses to oppose the bills.<\/p>\n

Now, Congress is considering a slate of antitrust legislation targeting these major tech companies, and two of them are actually building momentum. The Open Apps Market Act would end Google and Apple\u2019s chokehold on mobile applications, giving consumers more control over their own devices. The American Innovation and Choice Online Act would, among other regulations, ban Big Tech from preferring or promoting its own products, an activity that serves only to solidify their market power<\/p>\n

Our current relationship with technology is dangerous and unsustainable, but we can\u2019t begin to restructure it without strong antitrust reform. There isn’t a single silver bullet that will solve the harms of Big Tech, but antitrust legislation is a key part of the puzzle. The truth is that this could be Congress\u2019s only meaningful shot at addressing Big Tech monopolies, and we can\u2019t let them waste it. It\u2019s time for us to take back control of our digital lives.<\/p>\n

Summary of the Bills<\/h3>\n

The American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICOA, H.R. 3816, S. 2992)<\/strong>
\nAICOA, also known as \u201cthe self preferencing bill\u201d – would stop the biggest tech companies (companies over a $550B market cap, e.g. Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook) from preferencing their own products in search results and defaults, and from using data generated by competitors\u2019 use of their products to build competing products. It would also make it easier for Federal agencies and State Attorneys General to bring antitrust cases against the biggest tech companies.<\/p>\n

The Open App Markets Act (OAMA, H.R. 5017, S. 2710)<\/strong>
\nOAMA – also known as \u201cthe App Store bill\u201d – would stop big tech companies that provide hardware or operating systems for general-purpose computers from using app stores to abuse their market power. It only applies to app stores with over 50 million US users (currently, Apple and Google) and it would require these companies to let their users install apps directly, choose alternative app stores, uninstall pre-packaged apps, and change the default apps. It would also require them to make the APIs they offer to their own products available to other app developers, so that their operating systems can\u2019t give special advantages to their own apps, over apps offered by competitors.<\/p>\n

#AntiTrustDay on social media…<\/h3>\n
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More competition in tech is good. If you're in the U.S., today we're working with a group of smaller companies to urge people to call Congress to support The American Innovation and Choice Online Act. More info & 1-click call here: https:\/\/t.co\/MinR4NgShI<\/a> #AntiTrustDay<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/dxWPejKgUt<\/a><\/p>\n

— DuckDuckGo (@DuckDuckGo) April 4, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n