Hearings to examine big fixes for big tech.

Antitrust, Business Rights and Competition

2025-04-01

Source: Congress.gov

Summary

This hearing, captioned "Big Fixes, Big Tech," marks the first of the Senate Antitrust Competition Policy and Consumer Rights Hearing in the 119th Congress, focusing on identifying effective solutions for big tech's anti-competitive conduct . Notably, Google declined the invitation to participate as a witness [ 00:19:54 ] .

Themes

Big Tech's Anti-Competitive Practices

A handful of technology giants dominate key sectors, limiting innovation, harming small businesses, and gatekeeping information . Google has been found liable for monopolizing the online search market and is also being sued for monopolizing the ad tech market . In ad tech, Google acts simultaneously as the buyer, seller, agent, broker, and platform owner, setting its own rules and charging inflated fees [ 00:21:27 ] . This situation has been likened to Goldman Sachs owning the New York Stock Exchange . Beyond ad tech, dominant firms engage in harmful self-preferencing, deny essential API access to innovators, and restrict interoperability . Such practices stifle innovation, lead to inferior products like Siri, and limit consumer choice . Furthermore, big tech firms have been accused of suppressing speech, de-platforming users, and even deleting messages to evade legal action .

Proposed Solutions and Legislative Action

The America Act was introduced to prohibit tech giants from controlling multiple parts of the ad tech stack, reflecting a principle of structural remedies to allow the free market to work as intended . There is strong advocacy for robust solutions, including company breakups, citing historical successes like the dissolution of Standard Oil and AT&T, which led to tremendous growth and innovation . Key legislative tools proposed include mandating open API access, enforcing interoperability requirements, and limiting self-preferencing to foster competition . These legislative actions are seen as essential to complement the often lengthy and narrow outcomes of litigation . The DOJ's proposal to remedy Google's anti-competitive search behavior is supported, drawing parallels to the Telecommunications Act of 1996 that forced incumbents to innovate . Additionally, revisiting and strengthening private antitrust lawsuits, possibly by increasing damages awards and adjusting standing requirements, could make enforcement more viable and attract attention from CEOs and shareholders .

Impact on Consumers, Small Businesses, and Innovation

The anti-competitive practices of big tech limit innovation, harm small businesses, and stifle independent thought . High advertising prices imposed by monopolists are often passed on to consumers, akin to an "invisible tax" . Competition is vital for keeping inflation in check and providing consumers with diminished prices and increased quality [ 00:25:05 ]

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. Small businesses and digital publishers, in particular, suffer as dominant platforms "gobble up" advertising revenue and control market rules, leading to underfunding of news and entertainment . Innovation is hindered when dominant firms have an incentive to stifle competition, as seen with Google withholding large language models to protect search revenue . The lack of choice and market access prevents new entrants and startups from flourishing, with the Open App Markets Act cited as a way to address these issues in the mobile market [ 01:32:16 ]

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Tone of the Meeting

The meeting conveyed a serious and urgent tone, with speakers repeatedly emphasizing the critical need for Congress to act now to address big tech's power [ 00:26:00 ]

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. A strong bipartisan consensus emerged, with multiple participants highlighting broad support for competition policy . Speakers were openly critical of big tech's anti-competitive practices, lawlessness, and their negative impact on consumers, small businesses, and innovation . Despite these challenges, there was an optimistic outlook that legislative actions, such as the America Act, coupled with robust antitrust enforcement, could restore competition and foster innovation . There was also a clear impatience with the slow pace of antitrust litigation, underscoring the perceived necessity for legislative solutions to bring immediate urgency to the issues at hand .

Participants

Transcript

Thank you.
K
I call the hearing to order.
This is the hearing that we have captioned, Big Fixes, Big Tech.
And this, I would add, is the first hearing of the Senate Antitrust Competition Policy and Consumer Rights Hearing and the 119th Congress.
I also want to begin by welcoming our new ranking member, although it's a somewhat ironic welcome, given that he's not able to be with us at the moment.
He is on the Senate floor, but I welcome him nonetheless as the ranking member.
And I also welcome my friend and colleague, Senator Welsh, who has graciously agreed to fill in for Senator Booker today for purposes of this hearing.
And, of course, welcome to the other new members of the subcommittee, including Senators Schmidt, Britt, Moody, and Schiff.  That somehow sounds like a line in a song.
K
There's a rhythmic quality to it.
Schmidt, Britt, Moody, and Schiff.
Bobby, Robbie, Mickey, and Mike, if I like the girl, who cares who you like?  It's a song from the 80s.
K
Not a very good song, but it reminded me of that.
This subcommittee has a long history of examining politics   anti-competitive conduct by various actors within our economy, including more recently by big tech firms.  Today's hearing continues that part of our important work, and the focus of this hearing in particular involves identifying effective solutions for big tech's anti-competitive conduct.   We cast a pretty wide net in preparing for this hearing.
K
We invited Google to participate as a witness.
Google declined the invitation.  For too long, a handful of technology giants have dominated certain key sectors of our economy, limiting innovation, harming small businesses, and gatekeeping information.
Federal and state antitrust enforcement actions against big tech are continuing to proceed in the courts.
K
Nearly five years ago, President Trump's Department of Justice sued Google for monopolizing the online search market.
The court found Google liable and will hold a remedies hearing in a few weeks.
After the remedies phase, there will of course likely be
a series of attempts to address the outcome one way or another through the appellate process before that case is finally resolved.
Additionally, the Department of Justice sued Google for monopolizing the ad tech market.
Google has what's been referred to as a trifecta of monopolies, owning the marketplace and the tools used for buying and selling ads, positioning itself simultaneously to be the buyer, the seller, the agent, the broker, and filling in a number of other roles.   Although the trial concluded last year, the decision in that particular case is still pending before the court.
The Federal Trade Commission, of course, sued Facebook in 2020 to unwind some of its prior acquisitions in the social media space.   And that particular litigation is moving even slower, with a trial finally scheduled to begin this month, almost four and a half years after the filing date.  All the while, these alleged monopolists continue operating with few restrictions, reaping monopoly profits year after year.  President Trump has long recognized the inherent danger posed by BidTech's unchecked power to the extent it remains unchecked.
When President Trump nominated Gail Slater as Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division at the Department of Justice, the President emphasized that big tech had, quote unquote, run wild for years, in the process stifling competition, cracking down on the rights of many Americans, as well as the opportunities that might be available for what might be referred to as little tech, or at least everyone in tech outside of very, very big tech.
President Trump also appointed Andrew Ferguson as FTC chairman more recently, and Chairman Ferguson previously served as the Solicitor General of Virginia, who joined the Department of Justice's ad-tech lawsuit against Google.
K
As we discuss legislative alternatives, we must first revisit some of our prior efforts.
In the last Congress, I introduced the America Act, which received broad support,
K
including from then-Senator, now-Vice President and President of the Senate, J.D.  Vance, as well as a number of my Democratic and Republican colleagues making this bill truly bipartisan.
Digital advertising is in many respects the lifeblood of countless small businesses,
and large ones, but it can make all the difference between sinking or swimming among small business in particular.  Yet dominant platforms act simultaneously as buyers, sellers, brokers, platform owners, and so forth, setting their own rules and charging inflated, some would say rent-seeking fees.
A former senior director at Google who led billion-dollar ad tech teams
once asked whether there was a deeper issue with a single firm owning the platform, the exchange, and a huge ad network.
He likened it to Goldman Sachs or Citibank owning the New York Stock Exchange.
And that is precisely what's happening in the digital advertising market today.
The America Act would prohibit tech giants from controlling multiple parts of the ad tech stack, and it reflects the principle that structural remedies solve the foundational issues and then, by doing so, allow the free market to work as it was always intended to.
Regulatory and merely behavioral remedies require ongoing oversight, very often with mixed results or without the results generally that we want.
Litigation is of course a lengthy process, and even successful cases can result in narrow, firm, specific remedies.
Congress of course has the opportunity to pass solutions to unlock competition across

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