Klobuchar, Lee Working Through Digital Ad Competition Proposal
Senate Antitrust Subcommittee Chair Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., is continuing to formulate legislative ideas with ranking member Mike Lee, R-Utah, to address competition issues for digital ad markets, they said during a hearing Tuesday. They introduced bipartisan legislation on the same…
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issue in May with the Competition and Transparency in Digital Advertising Act (see 2205190054). Lee referred to a bill during Tuesday’s hearing that he called the "America Act," which he said would “tackle competition in digital advertising.” Klobuchar said she’s working with Lee on a bill to improve competition and transparency in ad technology markets, and a hearing is scheduled for later this month. Lee said, despite his concerns about Big Tech, the “cure” shouldn’t be “worse than the disease,” and Congress should avoid replacing “corporate tyrants” with bureaucratic tyrants. Congress should solve these issues, not delegate policy decisions to unelected bureaucrats, he said. Trillion-dollar corporations have “pervasive control” over how internet users communicate, shop, consume news, influence public debate and use smart appliances, he said: Big Tech’s business strategy is based on addiction, particularly for young users. He alleged social media companies colluded with Big Tech to censor content and surveil users. Klobuchar said the demotion of Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., in the House (see 2302020069) will make it harder to pursue bipartisan antitrust legislation, but doing nothing would be a “huge mistake.”