Break Up the Big Tech Giants—the People Want It!

In today’s divided America, it’s rare to find an issue with wide bipartisan support. But when it comes to breaking up the “Big Tech” companies—Facebook, Amazon, Apple, and Google—the data is crystal clear.

Everyone from California Democrats to Iowa Republicans want to pass two historic antitrust bills to rein in their monopoly power.

Last fall, whistleblower Frances Haugen proved that Facebook is aware of the harm it causes to users’ mental health. But the ills of social media only scratch the surface of Big Tech’s harmful impact. Decades of lax antitrust enforcement has allowed these companies to accumulate economic and cultural power rivaling that of some countries.

The result? An environment where Big Tech can crush competitors, self-preference their own products while screwing over small businesses, and tear away the last vestiges of consumer privacy.

The first of the two bipartisan antitrust bills, the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICO), would stop Big Tech from writing the same self-serving rules it has used to maintain its dominance. Described as “The Senate Bill That Has Big Tech Scared,” the bill would hinder Big Tech companies’ ability to leverage their control of online spaces (think Amazon’s marketplace or Google’s search engine) to unfairly boost the company’s other products.