Coalition of 30+ Groups Urges Congress to Reject AICOA Over Tech Competition Concerns

In a joint letter spearheaded by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) and the Association for Competitive Technology (ACT), the group urged Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Ranking Member Dick Durbin to abandon the legislation and instead rely on existing antitrust laws to address concerns involving large technology companies.

According to a statement accompanying the letter, the coalition contends that AICOA would single out a limited number of digital platforms based on user and revenue thresholds without requiring proof that those companies possess actual market dominance. The signatories argue that such an approach would expose firms to legal liability despite the absence of demonstrated harm to competition.

The coalition further asserted that the bill would cast suspicion on common practices used by technology platforms to manage products, strengthen security, integrate services, and maintain consumer trust. Per a statement from the group, these activities are often procompetitive and beneficial to users, yet could become subject to heightened legal scrutiny under the proposed legislation.

The letter also points to ongoing antitrust actions brought by the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission against companies including Apple, Google, Amazon, and Meta as evidence that current laws already provide regulators with sufficient authority to address alleged anticompetitive behavior.

Among the coalition’s chief concerns is the belief that AICOA targets companies primarily because of their size rather than requiring proof of market dominance. The group also warned that the legislation could undermine ordinary business practices that support security and user experience, while signaling that the United States is embracing a regulatory model similar to the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA).

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“Amidst the global tidal wave of digital antitrust regulations targeting American firms, passing AICOA is absolutely one of the worst things we could do to support U.S. technology leadership,” said Joseph Coniglio, Senior Counsel and Director of the Schumpeter Project on Competition Policy at ITIF. “AICOA mirrors the DMA not only by not requiring any demonstration that covered firms have market dominance but presumptively condemning a wide range of business practices without any proof of anticompetitive harm and not allowing firms to generally offer procompetitive defenses. That is a fundamental departure from how U.S. antitrust law evaluates unilateral behavior under the Sherman Act to address non-existent market failures in America’s thriving digital sector.”

According to a statement from the coalition, startups and small businesses could also face significant challenges if AICOA becomes law. Many smaller companies depend on integrated digital services for functions such as fraud prevention, payment processing, product discovery, security, and access to international markets. The coalition warned that making routine platform management practices legally questionable could increase compliance costs, create uncertainty, and make it more difficult for emerging firms to compete against established brands.

ACT General Counsel Graham Dufault pointed to Europe’s experience under the DMA as a cautionary example.

“Europe’s experience with the DMA shows that these rules impose untenable costs on small business innovators,” Dufault said. “DMA has already undermined consumer trust in curated marketplaces, delayed access to new tools, degraded product features, increased uncertainty, and shifted costs onto smaller developers that are disadvantaged by the disintegration of their preferred marketplaces. AICOA would risk replicating those harms in the United States, especially for startups and small businesses that depend on secure, integrated digital ecosystems to reach customers and compete globally.”

Source: Itif