Big Tech’s antitrust bill is close to being reintroduced on Capitol Hill, but key Democrats could thwart it

A major antitrust bill aimed at reining in Big Tech is set to be reintroduced in Congress, but insiders fear that key Democrats with close ties to Silicon Valley could undermine their own party’s agenda.

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, is leading the push to resurrect the America’s Internet Innovation and Competition Act. The bill will prevent Big Tech companies from “self-selecting” their own services – for example, Google promoting its shopping tool in search results while demoting competitors’ services.

Restoring AICOA is a “priority” for Nadler, who is expected to sponsor the legislation and wants to do so by the end of June, a congressional source close to the situation told The Post. The Senate version of the bill was reintroduced last year and was co-sponsored by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (D-Iowa).

“The reintroduction will happen, it’s just a matter of getting the members together, dotting a few I’s and crossing a few T’s,” said the source, who asked not to be named.

AICOA advanced the previous committee in 2022, benefiting from broad bipartisan support in both the House and Senate. But the legislation ultimately stalled, failing to gain a full vote after furious lobbying from tech companies, with Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai reportedly calling lawmakers directly.

Some supporters of the bill fear a similar outcome this time in the current session of Congress, which already has a full slate of legislative priorities on board, including the Children’s Online Safety Act.

Senate lawmakers are in “active negotiations” on potentially reintroducing AICOA, a Senate source close to the situation said. However, the source said the bill faces an uphill battle in both chambers of Congress amid stubborn opposition from recalcitrant Republicans and Democrats.

Some sources expressed skepticism that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who controls the upper chamber’s agenda and declined to hold a vote on the bill last session, would support renewed efforts for AICOA.

Schumer, who has been under scrutiny for his ties to Big Tech, was spotted meeting with Google’s Pichai at this office last week, according to NBC News.

In 2022, Schumer’s office told antitrust supporters it would bring AICOA to the floor if they could prove they had the 60 votes required to pass the bill, Politico reported at the time.

In a statement to The Post, Klobuchar called securing passage of the bill a “key priority.”

“We currently face a monopoly problem as dominant digital platforms – some of the most powerful companies the world has ever known – increasingly abuse their power to favor their own products and services, while harming small businesses and entrepreneurs trying to compete online.” Klobuchar said. “There is cross-party agreement that we need to introduce commonsense road rules to spur innovation and increase consumer choice.”

The House has approached multiple GOP lawmakers about replacing former Republican Sen. Ken Buck (Colo.), who co-sponsored the bill in the past but left Congress earlier this year, sources said.

Nadler’s press secretary did not respond to requests for comment.

Another hurdle is Republican Lou Correa (R-Calif.), who last year became the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust subcommittee, which one senior Democratic aide told CNBC was “a big windfall for tech companies.”

Correa has irritated Big Tech critics, including members of his own party, by consistently opposing attempts to crack down on the industry, sources familiar with the situation said. The congressman’s chief of staff, Rene Munoz, is a former lobbyist for Amazon and Apple.

Correa has opposed AICOA and other technology antitrust bills when they have been considered in the past, telling Politico that he fears they will “basically crowd out investment in this area” and “strangle the economics behind them.”

Fight For The Future, a digital rights watchdog group, has been one of Correa’s most vocal critics. Last month, the group parked a truck with billboards outside a Correa fundraiser in Washington, D.C., calling on the congressman to “stop defending Big Tech.”

“One corporate-friendly member of Congress should not be able to derail bipartisan antitrust legislation that enjoys overwhelming support from voters across the political spectrum,” said Fight For The Future Director Evan Greer.

Correa’s defenders note that Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) currently chairs the House Judiciary Committee and has majority influence over its agenda. Any attempt to restore AICOA would require its consent.

Correa’s spokesman, Adriano Pucci, responded to criticism of his stance on antitrust issues.

“Even when Democrats were in the majority, these bills that were supposed to be introduced did not gain enough support to pass. “We have also received no indication that they are high on the agenda of House Republicans,” Pucci said in a statement.

“Putting Main Street first and giving business owners the tools they need to thrive is Ranking Member Correa’s top priority — not pleasing outside groups backed by billion-dollar ‘big tech’ competitors or picking sides in a fight between tech billionaires,” Pucci added .

Critics also pointed to Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), another member of the House antitrust subcommittee and a vocal critic of Big Tech’s antitrust crackdown.

In 2021, she declared that Big Tech antitrust laws, including AICOA, “will do more harm than good to American consumers and the American economy.”

Lofgren, whose district includes Silicon Valley, has a daughter who works on Google’s legal team, The Post reported. The disclosed information shows that the congresswoman has received as much as $374,000 from Google since 2015.

When asked for comment, Lofgren stated that she “has never hesitated to defend consumer- and privacy-oriented technology issues.”

“I oppose legislation that is poorly drafted and will not serve my constituents,” Lofgren said. “As for the US Internet Innovation and Competition Act, specifically as introduced, it was poorly written and constitutes a flawed piece of legislation.”

Lofgren added that it would be “false” to suggest that her daughter’s work at Google, where she is not on the antitrust legal team, has any bearing on her work in Congress.

Nadler is also keen to drum up support for other stalled antitrust bills that were part of a highly publicized bipartisan package championed by Buck and former Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) during the last Congress.

That includes the ACCESS Act, which would require Big Tech companies to make it easier for users to transfer data to other services, as well as a so-called “breakup bill” that would allow the feds to sue to break up Big Tech monopolies if they create a conflict of interest.