DOJ Supports Nondiscrimination Big Tech Legislation

DOJ supports legislation that would ban online platforms’ “discriminatory conduct,” acting Assistant Attorney General Peter Hyun wrote this week to House Judiciary Committee members. The rise of dominant platforms is a threat to open markets and competition, he wrote. The American Innovation and Choice Online Act S. 2992/HR-3816 (see 2202090066) “would emphasize causes of action prohibiting the largest digital platforms from discriminating in favor of their own products or services, or among third parties,” he said: The legislation would supplement existing antitrust laws “in preventing the largest digital companies from abusing and exploiting their dominant positions.” Software & Information Industry Association Senior Vice President-Global Public Policy Paul Lekas disagreed, saying the bills are a “solution in search of a problem.” It isn’t “at all clear that there is a need, let alone a pressing one, for Congress to augment or clarify existing antitrust law or for the government to try to influence how digital markets work in the manner these bills propose,” said Lekas in a statement.