Small Businesses Urge US Congress To Support Antitrust Bills

Dozens of companies and business organizations sent a letter to US Congress members on Monday, urging them to support a bill that would rein in the biggest tech companies such as Amazon and Google, and prevent them from leveraging their large resources in both money and data to tilt the markets in their favor.

Last week, Democratic US Senator Amy Klobuchar and lawmakers from both parties said they had the Senate votes needed to pass legislation that would prevent tech platforms, including Apple and Facebook, from favoring their own businesses. According to the rules of the United States’ legislative body, a simple majority is needed to pass such a bill, yet a more robust show of support would be needed to ensure no obstacles can be added, such as the infamous filibuster, which can allow opposing senators to ‘time out’ a bill’s discussion.

Companies supporting the measure, which include Yelp, Sonos, DuckDuckGo and Spotify, called it a “moderate and sensible bill aimed squarely at well-documented abuses by the very largest online platforms.”

Other signatories included the American Booksellers Association, the American Independent Business Alliance, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and Kelkoo Group. Amazon.com, the Chamber of Commerce and others oppose the measure.

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