The framers of our Constitution recognized that concentrated power was a threat to individual liberty, which led to the separation of powers within the federal government. But they also knew that this threat was not limited to kings and queens.
Indeed, the American tradition long before Teddy Roosevelt came to office had been skeptical of the American Revolution or the belief in industrial supremacy of “hateful business monopolies” or the accumulation of private power.
Today, our technology markets are dominated by only a few companies. They affect every aspect of our lives. They tell us the truth and the lie. They determine what we see online, what we say, what we’re allowed to access, and what apps we can download. Like the Eye of Sauron, they watch a lot of what we do and shape our online experiences and dictate what we do and think offline.
Worse, these companies have become very powerful through various government privileges. From legal impunity to sweeping tax breaks, they can manipulate and control markets (and often narratives) with impunity and no accountability to the American people.
Don’t you like it? too bad. They run the show.
If we want to control Big Tech, if we want the market to work for the people, not the mighty, we need a comprehensive strategy to combat its ever-obscuring influence.
Executive action is one solution – but it has limits. Despite Lena Khan’s credibility chops, the Federal Trade Commission has had little success stopping mergers or taking down Big Tech in court. Courts are now considering whether the Federal Trade Commission has constitutional authority to prosecute.
This puts Congress in control of Big Tech. And fortunately, a bipartisan group of lawmakers has been looking to establish safeguards.
In particular, Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) introduced the Open App Markets Act, introducing competition in app stores and even giving consumers a chance. Google and Apple (most famously) have used their dominance to stifle customer choice in their respective stores. Narrowly targeted and broadly bipartisan, the bill sailed through the Senate Judiciary Committee in February.
So why hasn’t Congress brought up the Open App Markets Act for a vote? Political politeness.
Instead of pressing ahead with the Open App Markets Act, Senate leaders are tying their fate to the far-reaching American Innovation and Choice Online Act, which aims to give internet giants self-selection. The devil is always in the details, even if the purpose is commendable; And there are many, many details to work through in such a vast calculation.
So, it’s no surprise that many senators who nominally support the bill are calling for it to be reworked, enacted — and, by extension, the Open App Markets Act — put on hold indefinitely.
We cannot allow the great to be the enemy of the good. Congress is unlikely to pass the self-selection bill in its current form, and congressional leaders will need time, perhaps months, to adjust the terms to limit unintended consequences. At this point, Congress should greenlight what’s ready to go — the Apps Marketplace Act — and take the time it needs to iron out the wrinkles in its self-selecting bill.
Development growth is the only right policy.
Of course, even if Congress passes both bills, we still have a long way to go to resolve the Big Tech Gordian Knot. In particular, Big Tech still exerts considerable control over the digital public square.
For example, research from North Carolina State University found that Gmail more often views Republican emails as spam and Yahoo views Democratic emails as spam, even for users who sign up to receive political emails.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently admitted that Facebook censors articles at the behest of the government, including those written by media outlets such as the New York Post. And researchers have long been concerned about algorithmic bias against black Americans and other people of color on social media.
What connects all these stories? A lack of transparency (or much-delayed transparency on Facebook’s part) about how Big Tech decides what we see and when we see it.
The good news is that both Democrats and Republicans support increased transparency in the tech sector. It’s time for Congress to flex that bipartisan muscle and bring these giant platforms out of the dark and into the light.
Despite what you see on the news every day, bipartisanship lives on in Washington, D.C., and many government officials are working to reduce the power of Big Tech, protect privacy, and protect our children online.
But for this work to have an impact on the American people, the Senate must begin by bringing these good, bipartisan bills to the floor for a vote.
Joel Thayer is president of the Digital Progress Institute and a Washington-based telecom and technology attorney.
