Daily Caller: Conservative Tech Groups Slam Ex-Intelligence Officials For Defending Monopolies, Urge Passage Of Antitrust Bills
October 4, 2021
Two conservative tech advocacy groups sent a letter to House lawmakers criticizing former national security officials for attempting to prevent the passage of antitrust bills targeting Big Tech.
The letter, sent by the Internet Accountability Project (IAP) and the American Principles Project (APP) to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy along with lawmakers responsible for overseeing antitrust legislation, urged Congress to pass six bills targeting major tech companies advanced beyond the House Judiciary Committee in June. The letter also criticized twelve former intelligence officials who sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy arguing against the passage of antitrust bills in mid-September.
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The IAP and APP told lawmakers that the tech companies’ size and anticompetitive business practices were a greater threat to American’s competitiveness with China than the antitrust bills.
“We disagree with the premise that restoring competition to the American digital sector will harm our national security,” the groups wrote. “By allowing these companies to become monopolies, we have given China a competitive advantage because all it must do is gain control over one key input these companies need, and they will be forced to look out for Chinese interests over America’s.”
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“Big Tech’s paid allies are actively and aggressively lobbying Congress, making every argument under the sun to stop overwhelmingly popular reforms to rein in Big Tech’s monopolistic practices,” Mike Davis, Founder and President of the Internet Accountability Project, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Their driving motivation is profit, and that’s why they’re trying so hard to stop bipartisan legislation making its way through Congress.”
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The IAP and APP argued that the antitrust bills would improve American companies’ innovation and fortify the U.S. tech sector’s position in global markets by further enabling and incentivizing competition.
“Preventing already-dominant Big Tech firms from swallowing what remains of their competition, will spur innovation and restore incentives for entrepreneurs to found startups,” the groups’ letter read.
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“These bills will ensure America can be the force for good that it has been for the past 245 years,” the IAP and APP wrote.
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