Conservative Groups Come Out in Support of Antitrust Bills

September 24th, 2021 6:55 PM

Multiple conservative groups have come out in support of antitrust bills in Congress.

The American Principles Project, the Internet Accountability Project, and American Majority are just some of the groups seeking support for six antitrust bills in the House. 

"We're expecting two of the bills to pass," Jon Schweppe, director of policy and government of affairs at the American Principles Project, told FOX Business "We think two others have a good shot at passing … and the other two will be heavier lifts, but we will push them because we believe in them." 

Schweppe said their efforts are specifically targeted at House Republicans.

"Our goal is to push Republicans, to let them know that their constituents are very upset about this issue, they want to see action taken against Big Tech," he said. "They have to recognize that while Section 230 is a great idea - and organization has been in favor of reforming it - we're years away from being able to do that." 

"Antitrust is the only way to rein in Big Tech," he added. Still, Schweppe said proponents must look at what can be done in the short term instead of focusing solely on long term goals.

"We are encouraging Republicans who are outraged at the censorship or the power these companies have - you gotta be practical. You have to look at these things and say ‘What can we do?’ in the near term," he concluded. For its part, Google Vice President of Government Affairs and Public Policy Mark Isakowitz said the Big Tech Giant is "not opposed to antitrust scrutiny or updated regulations on specific issues," according to Axios

"But American consumers and small businesses would be shocked at how these bills would break many of their favorite services," Isakowitz added. "As many groups and companies have observed, the bills would require us to degrade our services and prevent us from offering important features used by hundreds of millions of Americans." 

Twitter, meanwhile, referenced its 2019 decision to end political advertising.  "We’ve made the decision to stop all political advertising on Twitter globally," Jack Dorsey tweeted. "We believe political message reach should be earned, not bought." The Federal Trade Commission recently refiled its lawsuit against Facebook. The FTC argues that Facebook has monopoly power.

“Facebook lacked the business acumen and technical talent to survive the transition to mobile. After failing to compete with new innovators, Facebook illegally bought or buried them when their popularity became an existential threat,” Holly Vedova, Acting Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, said of the refiling.

Conservatives are under attack. Contact your local representative and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on “hate speech” and equal footing for conservatives.