If you only listened to Amy Klobuchar and Chuck Grassley talk about antitrust legislation, you would think that our economy, and specifically the online ecosystem, was at risk of monopolistic control by companies acting in bad faith. But this couldn’t be further from the truth. The companies under scrutiny have innovated and provided the American public with products and services that they have come to love and rely upon. Klobuchar’s bill, S.2992, would change all of that.

This bill would drastically alter the way that companies are allowed to function and promote their business and services online in many ways. It would prevent tech companies from offering integrated tools that benefit small businesses, like Google Search results that direct users directly to Maps results with local businesses and Facebook’s Marketplace features.

It would limit opportunities for small businesses to grow and expand by banning acquisitions from larger companies. It would make it harder to use online platforms even as the country is still battling the pandemic and businesses are struggling to bounce back financially, many who used the internet to stay afloat during the pandemic. It could possibly widen the digital divide in the country by forcing companies away from providing free services online.

And worst of all, it would allow the government to pick winners and losers by shifting away from a market-oriented approach, toward government overreach and red tape for operations that many businesses now consider the norm.

It is important that your representatives in the Senate and Congress hear from small business advocates about the need to avoid supporting such harmful legislation that allows the government to control the internet, and drastically alter the way that companies provide products and services that American’s have come to rely upon.

 

John Picchiotti

Fairfield

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