Could Pending Antitrust Bill Protect Alternative Tech Platforms?

As censorship supporters suggested that one provision might protect Big Tech-alternative platform’s free speech, the debate about the bipartisan antitrust American Innovation and Choice Online Act has taken a new turn.

Senator Amy Klobuchar (D – Minnesota) introduced the bipartisan American Innovation and Choice Online Act. It has been supported by key Senate Republicans Ted Cruz (TX), and Josh Hawley(MO). This bill will prevent platforms from favouring their products over competitors. Section 3(a)(3), however, forbids platforms from discriminating in the “application or enforcement of [their] terms of service” against similar businesses in a way that would hurt competition.

Tech Policy Press writer and attorney Carmen Scurato warned that the provision is “a massive loophole that would undermine a tech platform’s ability to remove entities that traffic in hateful, racist, violent or otherwise dangerous content.” In other words, the bill could protect alternative platforms from sabotage by Big Tech. Scurato wrote that Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) cited pro-free speech social media app Parler as an example. This bill might provide protections for the platform that Apple, Google, and Amazon have censored. Scurato whined that alleged “hate speech” and so-called “vaccine disinformation” could simply be considered “competing political or health information.” Apparently the First Amendment exercise of free speech is threatening to Scurato and Padilla.

Advocates of free speech argue that censorship does not have to be justified just because an individual or platform disagrees with something. Big Tech’s moderation policies have been inconsistent in the past. Twitter was one example. It appeared that Twitter allowed extremist officials and entities to disregard its moderation policies, without any censorship. Furthermore, facts aggressively dubbed “misinformation” in the past have since been acknowledged as plausible or true even by leftists. The Wuhan laboratory leak theory of COVID-19’s origins is one example.

Conservatives being attacked. Your representatives should be contacted to demand free speech. Tech firms should provide their users with the freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s Use the contact formHelp us to hold Big Tech responsible.