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ARTICLE · 04 NOVEMBER 2021

Senate Zeros In On Big Tech With Latest Antitrust Reform Bill

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Last month, Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) fired the latest and perhaps most high-profile legislative salvo against Big Tech to date – the proposed American Innovation and Choice Online Act.

United StatesAntitrust/Competition Law
Michael Scarborough
Michael Scarborough
Kevin M. Costello
Kevin M. Costello
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Last month, Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) fired the latest and perhaps most high-profile legislative salvo against Big Tech to date - the proposed American Innovation and Choice Online Act. This Senate bill would update the antitrust laws with the specific goal of reigning in large technology companies. This comes after a year of high-profile hearings in which the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust and Consumer Rights, under Klobuchar's direction, has investigated the conduct of Apple, Google, and other big tech companies.

The Senate bill explicitly targets a small group of firms that operate "covered platforms." Covered platforms (1) have 50 million monthly active users or 100,000 monthly active business users; (2) have sales or a market capitalization exceeding $550 billion; and (3) are a "critical trading partner for the sale or provision of any product or service offered on or directly related to the online

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