WASHINGTON — A bill that would stop large online platforms from discriminating against outside services has been revived in the Senate after versions in recent years died amid strong opposition from the technology industry.

Judiciary Chair Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., introduced the legislation on Wednesday in what they say is an effort to bolster competition in online retail and between app providers.

Even before the bill’s official announcement, technology groups declared their continued opposition to the effort, which they said would hurt consumers and single out successful businesses.

In a statement announcing the bill, dubbed the “American Innovation and Choice Online Act,” Grassley said the legislation would “expand consumer choice” on the internet.

“In today’s digital age, a handful of dominant companies control what Americans can buy, hear and say online,” Grassley said. “When these companies abuse their market power to give themselves a leg up – whether through censorship, favoritism or discrimination – American consumers and small businesses pay the price.”

Klobuchar, who sponsored the legislation in the 117th and 118th Congresses, framed the bill as giving smaller companies a fairer shot at succeeding.

“American prosperity was built on a foundation of open markets and fair competition, but right now our country faces a monopoly problem, and American consumers, workers, and businesses are paying the price,” she said.

But tech groups called the bill “deeply flawed,” “out of step with” consumers’ economic reality and “one of the worst things we could do to support U.S. technology leadership,” and said it “should be left in the dustbin.”

The bill would prohibit certain large online platforms from giving preference to their own products or services, limiting the ability of another business’ products or services to compete on the platform or applying terms of service against a business in a discriminatory manner in a way that would “materially harm competition.”

In 2022, the Judiciary Committee voted on a bipartisan basis to advance similar legislation. At that time, six Republican senators voted against the bill. Four — Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., John Cornyn, R-Texas, Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Thom Tillis, R-N.C. — still serve on the committee.

Current Judiciary member Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who chairs the Commerce Committee, also expressed concerns about the bill but voted in support of it.

In 2021, the House Judiciary Committee also forwarded similar legislation, with Democrats and Republicans on each side of the 24-20 vote.

The 2023 bill was not taken up by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The new bill was endorsed by software companies Mozilla, Proton and Replit, as well as by antitrust organizations. In previous Congresses, consumer groups have supported the legislation as well, arguing it would open markets to give consumers greater choice.

In April, a group of 16 organizations wrote to Judiciary Committee leadership to urge the reintroduction of the bill, which they said would lower prices by restoring “competitive pressure.”

Changes

The latest version would differ in how it defines its scope. It would apply to online platforms controlled by companies with at least $175 billion in average annual gross revenue and monthly active U.S. users that make up at least 34% of the U.S. population over the age of 12.

The 2022 and 2023 versions of the bill would have applied to platforms with at least 50 million monthly-active U.S. users or 100,000 monthly-active U.S. business users and net annual U.S. sales or market capitalization of over $550 billion.

In a letter sent Thursday to Grassley and Judiciary ranking member Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation and more than 30 other groups said the bill “targets a small set of online platforms that meet specific revenue and user thresholds—without requiring any demonstration that they enjoy market power.”

The groups also argued that existing antitrust cases, including against Google, show that current law can address antitrust problems.

The bill would also forbid large platforms from tying access to the purchase of their other products and services if they’re not intrinsic to the use of the platform. Additionally, platforms couldn’t use nonpublic data from a business’ activities on the platform to benefit their own competing product. Platforms also couldn’t refuse to share a business’ own activity data with the business.

The bill would also prohibit platforms from locking users into default settings that direct them toward the platform’s services, unless it’s necessary for certain security reasons; unfairly ranking their services ahead of other businesses in search or a user interface; or retaliating against users or businesses who raise concerns about the platform potentially violating state or federal law.

Amy Bos, vice president of government affairs for industry group NetChoice, argued that the kind of behaviors targeted by the bill are key to how common technologies work.

“Many of the integrated features consumers rely on every day, from digital maps embedded in search results to pre-installed apps, seamless account integration, and built-in, industry leading security protections, could be legally challenged under AICOA,” Bos said in a statement. “The result is not more innovation, but worse products that are less convenient, less secure and less useful.”

Enforcement of the bill’s provisions would fall to the Federal Trade Commission, the Justice Department and state attorneys general.

Tech groups also compared the bill to Europe’s Digital Markets Act, which regulates “gatekeeper” platforms like search engines and app stores.

Josh Withrow, a resident fellow at the center-right R Street Institute, said the bill would “harm U.S. tech competitiveness and innovation.”

“We’ve already seen how similar regulations have worked in the European Union under their Digital Markets Act, with multiple companies forced to delay the rollout of new artificial intelligence tools to European markets,” Withrow said in a statement.

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