April 11, 2022
Major technology companies have expressed their utmost dissatisfaction and disappointment with the American Innovation and Choice Online Act bill.
Lawmakers say the bill aims to remove the privileges that big technology companies like Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon use to regulate competitors who use their platforms.
For big technology companies, such a bill has consequences, including ruining Google search results, preventing Apple from offering useful features on iPhones, forcing Facebook to stop moderating content, and sidelining Amazon.
The bill’s sharp rejection has raised fears that big technology companies will not give up their gatekeeper status.
Lawmakers and the U.S. government are not worried, however, because they are determined to pass the law. Once it becomes law, the FTC, the Justice Department of Justice, and state attorneys general will have the power to sue companies for violating these rules.
Although there is still a great deal of uncertainty about how the law will work, as any enforcement action would ultimately be tried in court.
The sources for this piece include an article in ArsTechnica.
