|
The American Innovation and Choice Online Act would prohibit
tech companies from giving preference to their own offerings
over competing products.
President Joe Biden urged for its passage during his most recent
State of the Union address in February.
“Pass the bipartisan legislation to strengthen antitrust
enforcement and prevent big online platforms from giving their
own products an unfair advantage,” Biden said.
The
legislation’s main idea is that a company that controls a
marketplace shouldn’t be able to set special rules for itself
within that marketplace, because competitors who object don’t
have any realistic place to go.
In 2021, the bill didn’t make it to the U.S. Senate floor for a
vote, something the primary sponsor, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar,
D-Minnesota, said was due to an incredible onslaught of money
from lobbyists.
In Illinois, the Connected Commerce Council has voiced
opposition to a new effort to reintroduce the measure.
Spokesperson Kristin Rae, who also owns Inspire Travel Luggage
in Bloomington, said if enacted, the law would change how the
digital economy works and make several small business digital
tools more expensive and harder to use.
“How am I to connect with buyers across the country and be a
more successful business if I can’t use digital tools and if the
government impedes those tools in a way because they don’t
understand how small businesses work,” Rae toldf The Center
Square.
Rae said if Amazon can no longer integrate its fulfillment
services with Prime, small business sellers lose the advantage
of easily qualifying for Prime and the benefits that come along
with it.
A 2022 Dartmouth College study found that the AICOA would be a
financial catastrophe for small businesses, which would lose
$500 billion, or $100,000 per small business, in the first five
years of AICOA becoming law.
“I’m incredibly disappointed that some in Congress are
determined to continue their crusade against leading technology
companies no matter how it hurts small businesses like mine,”
said Rae.
|
|
