Buck, Cicilline announce antitrust caucus in U.S. House
Focus will be monopolistic big-tech corporations, free speech
Colorado congressman Ken Buck has partnered with Rhode Island’s David Cicilline to form a bipartisan anti-trust caucus aimed at curbing perceived anti-competition and anti-free speech activities by major big tech corporations.
Buck, a Republican, and Cicilline, a Democrat, announced
Thursday the formation of the Congressional Antitrust Caucus.
A joint statement by the two congressmen said the caucus will be committed to holding Big Tech and monopolies accountable, promoting healthy competition in the economy, and advocating for hardworking and law-abiding consumers and business owners.
“This is a critically important policy area and one where thoughtful, bipartisan work can deliver results, Buck said. “By creating this caucus, we are showing the American people that we are in Washington to deliver results and that both sides of the aisle can come together to fight against these dangerous monopolistic corporations.”
Cicilline focused his comments on making the business environment friendlier for small businesses.
“As our bipartisan work in the 116th and 117th Congresses has shown, Big Tech’s anticompetitive, monopolistic behavior is stifling innovation, hurting consumers, and killing small businesses,” he said. “We know how to fix this, and are committed to seeing this work through.” Buck has long been an outspoken critic of internet-based giants like Google, Amazon, Apple and Meta. While his concern began with accusations that conservative speech was being suppressed on major social media, the congressman has come
to recognize that unfettered “freedom of speech” can pose a real problem, especially with so few platforms available.
In an interview with The Washington Post in January, Buck talked about his new book on the matter — “Crushed: Big Tech’s War on Free Speech” — and talked about plans to target Google and Facebook’s ad businesses and dominant app stores.
“I’m very concerned about
tech companies having so much influence on what information people receive, especially political information,” Buck told journalist Cristiano Lima. “I wrote this book to explain my concerns to a conservative audience. The Democrats are very concerned about dangerous speech on the internet and the Republicans are very concerned about censoring speech. I think there’s a sweet spot there that the two sides will come together and agree on.”
According to Thursday’s joint statement, the new Congressional Antitrust Caucus will:
• Focus on having hearings with American innovators who have been harmed by Big Tech’s predatory and anti-competitive practices;
• Continue pushing legislation that is in line with the Department of Justice Antitrust Division efforts including the bipartisan and bicameral Competition and Transparency in Digital Advertising Act;
• And serve as a brain trust of those who oppose monopolies in the free market because no market is free when monopolies act to unscrupulously eliminate competition.