Antitrust hawks offer states a toolbox for regulating Big Tech – Roll Call

Antitrust hawks who favor tougher regulations on big technology companies are looking beyond the Beltway to aid state lawmakers who have similar aims but fewer resources.

The D.C.-based American Economic Liberties Project a nonpartisan organization that advocates for new antitrust laws to take on the power of companies like Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google last week released a toolkit that state officials could use to push policies similar to those that have been proposed,but not yet passed,at the federal level.

"There's something really important about state lawmakers setting the terms for their constituents and their local economies and not waiting for Washington to deliver something that may never actually come along,"Pat Garofalo, the organization's director of state and local policy, told CQ Roll Call.

The so-called techlashthat has gripped Washington in recent years and resulted in increased scrutiny of major firms like Google and Facebook, which are both facing federal antitrust suits aided by bipartisan groups of state attorneys general, has yet to result in Congress sending new antitrust legislation to President Joe Biden's desk.

The bill that has come the closest, an uncontroversial measure that would update Federal Trade Commission fees charged to merging companies and direct the proceeds to antitrust enforcement, passed the Senate last summer as part of a larger legislative package but is now in danger of floundering because of the packed end-of-year legislative calendar.

See original here:

Antitrust hawks offer states a toolbox for regulating Big Tech - Roll Call