Amy Klobuchar leads her final assault on Big Tech’s power

There are only a few issues with the power to make bedfellows with Republicans and Democrats in Washington, and even fewer with the power to break up the parties. In an interview with The Verge on Tuesday, she described how reigning in Big Tech has done that.

bipartisan grief over Big Tech's stranglehold on markets and issues like coronavirus aid and infrastructure funding have been simmering beneath a surface tension of factional back-and-forths. While discussions over antitrust reform may have gotten lost in the noise of other Democratic priorities, the Amazons, Facebooks, and Googles of the tech industry had grown into a broad congressional consensus.

On the morning of January 20th, the campaign paid off after the Biden administration announced new initiatives to rein in corporate power. The American Innovation and Choice Online Act was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill would ban platforms from favoring their own products and services over those of their competitors. The Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission would get more funding through a bill that is set to receive final approval in the House next month, she said.

In a phone interview with The Verge on Tuesday, she said, "We got to this moment because of years of inaction."

Congress is closer to addressing the power of Big Tech after last week's successful markup. After the House approved a companion bill to her legislation last summer, all that remains is for the Senate and the House to vote on it.

Tech is scared by this possibility. According to The Washington Post, in the year 2021, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, and other companies spent over 70 million dollars on lobbying politicians to address their market power. Before the bill was approved out of committee, Apple and Google warned that it would hurt consumers. Lobbying groups were more explicit. The Chamber of Progress, a group funded by Amazon, said that the bill would eliminate both the funding model and logistics model that make Prime a popular company service.

It isn't like we're trying to make them go away. Absolutely not. She said that they were simply trying to put some rules in place so that they could not give preference to their own products over others.

Over the last few decades, the industry has avoided any form of regulation. Both sides of the aisle proposed changes to the bill that could change its effectiveness. She told The Verge that she was willing to work in good faith with other senators, but that they had to have a bill that actually does something.

Everyone is trying to win a popularity contest with the tech companies. You have to come to grips with the fact that these companies will be fine. trillion-dollar companies. She said that they were just making space for competitors.

While the Biden administration is eager to take on corporate power this year, its efforts could be sullied by more pressing issues as lawmakers return to their districts looking to tout big Democratic wins in the upcoming elections. When asked if antitrust reform was a winning issue for Democrats, she said she hadn't thought of it that way.

She continued, "We have people from all different kinds of ideologies that are committed to keeping markets competitive." We are focused on getting this done for the people of this country, so I think it is healthy.

The everyday lives of voters are measured by political wins. antitrust reform isn't likely to be top of mind for voters in either party. She argued that her bills would give parents more control over what their children see on social media.

Allowing more competition gives them more choice so that they can protect their kids.

It doesn't mean that Schumer and Pelosi will be able to get the votes for the legislation to pass if they bring the antitrust bill to the floor. Some argue that competition reform is unnecessary and could result in more harm to companies and consumers. Feinstein suggested that the administration opposed the bill, and asked if she had any knowledge of it.

The future of the bill depends on the ability of the remaining lawmakers to rally around them.

At one point during the hearing, one of the senators said to me, "You know, you're up against a lot." This isn't going to be easy, according to the senator. She laughed and said she didn't know that.

We know that. You just can't give up.