Biden signs executive order aimed at Big Tech crackdown

President Joe Biden on Friday signed a new executive order aimed at reeling in Big Tech and protecting competition across a variety of industries, including agriculture and banking.

In a fact sheet outlining the sweeping order, which includes 72 actions and recommendations that involve a dozen federal agencies, the administration said it seeks to reduce the trend of corporate consolidation, increase competition, and deliver concrete benefits to Americas consumers, workers, farmers, and small businesses.

The order seeks to lower prescription drug prices, allow hearing aids to be sold over the counter, ban or limit the use of non-compete agreements and more.

Biden said before signing the bill Friday afternoon that the use of non-compete agreements has exploded in recent years and suppressed wage growth.

Workers should be free to take a better job if someone offers it to them, Biden said. Non-compete clauses, he added, are done for one reason: to keep wages low.

Biden said workers from McDonalds were not able to accept a job at Burger King due to non-compete agreements, even though Politifact has rated this statement false when he made it during his campaign.

Is there a trade secret about whats in that patty? he asked, sparking laughs.

Look, Im a proud capitalist. I spent most of my career representing the corporate state of Delaware. I know America cant succeed unless American businesses succeed.

Let me be very clear. Capitalism without competition isnt capitalism. Its exploitation, he added.

In the fact sheet, the administration argued that the biggest companies in the tech sector are using their power to exploit consumers personal information and stifle competition.

The order will task regulators with enacting reforms to increase scrutiny of deals in the sector with a focus on moves like so-called killer acquisitions, in which companies buy smaller brands to stop them before they become competition.

Biden harkened back to the trust-busting efforts of Franklin Roosevelt in the 1930s. He said Roosevelt ramped up antitrust enforcement eight-fold in two years and saved families billions in todays dollars.

The antitrust tradition is how we ensure that our economy isnt about people working for capitalism, but capitalism working for people, he added.

The executive order will also call on the Federal Trade Commission to craft new rules on internet marketplaces, and target data collection and user surveillance practices. It will also encourage the FTC to issue rules that allow customers to repair products themselves or at independent servicers.

Tech giants like Facebook, Apple, Google and Microsoft have seen their market caps balloon in recent years. Both Apple and Microsoft are valued above $2 trillion and Google is not far off. Facebook boasts a market cap of about $986 billion.

The companies have drawn scrutiny from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, as well as in other countries, who question how the firms wield their power to protect their market dominance.

Others, including former President Donald Trump, have attacked Facebook, Google and Twitter for using their massive social media platforms to control public discourse.

Earlier this week, Trump, who was kicked off Twitter, Facebook and Google-owned YouTube earlier this year, sued those three companies and their chief executives for allegedly violating Americans First Amendment rights by blocking some users from the platforms.

Bidens executive order also comes just a few weeks after the House Judiciary Committee voted to advance six antitrust bills that could force big tech companies to overhaul or even break up their businesses.

The bills, however, have so far faced substantial pushback from critics who say they either dont do enough to reel in big tech companies or that theyll have unintended consequences.

Biden also said the bill is complementary to his call for Congress to pass the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which is aimed at ensuring workers have a fair shot at unionizing.

Kristen Swearingen, the chair of the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, which represents more than 600 major business organizations, including the US Chamber of Commerce and the American Trucking Association, said the presidents support for the PRO Act undermines his antimonopoly efforts.

The administration claims to be pro-worker choice and small business in this executive order but at the same time backs the PRO Act, which tips the scales in favor of large, unionized companies against small companies and consolidates union power and influence over the labor market, Swearingen said.

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Biden signs executive order aimed at Big Tech crackdown