Kentucky senator takes on Big Tech censorship, announces he is leaving YouTube.
Apple CEO Tim Cook and Alphabet chief Sundar Pichai have been hitting the phones and meeting with senators personally in an effort to halt legislation that’s being billed as a way to rein in Big Tech, FOX Business confirms.
Now, it looks like they need to lobby even harder.
Apple CEO Tim Cook poses with a new MacBook Pro for Apple’s Unleashed 2021 event at Apple Park in Cupertino, California, U.S., in a photograph released October 18, 2021. (Apple Inc/Handout via REUTERS / Reuters Photos)
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A source familiar tells FOX Business Cook and Pichai both rubbed elbows with members of the Senate Judiciary Committee in an effort to convince the lawmakers to tank the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, as first reported by Punchbowl News.
On Thursday, the panel passed the bill by a bipartisan vote of 16-6, sending it on its way to the full upper chamber.
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The legislations is co-sponsored by Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and sets forth antitrust measures that would only apply to tech giants Apple, Amazon, Alphabet-owned Google, Meta (formerly Facebook) and Microsoft.
The legislation would prohibit the handful of major tech companies from favoring their own services on their own platforms, which the firms deny doing. Several competitors to the major companies have already come out in favor of the legislation.
Alphabet Chief Executive Sundar Pichai. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images / Getty Images)
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Opponents of the bill argue it would compromise consumers’ data even further.
A similar bill passed the Democrat-controlled House Judiciary Committee last year, but has thus far not made it to the floor.
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Tech giants have been bolstering their government affairs teams in anticipation of such fights, as Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike continue on a warpath against Big Tech – albeit for different reasons.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks during a live-streamed virtual and augmented reality conference to announce the rebrand of Facebook as Meta, in this screen grab taken from a video released October 28, 2021. Facebook/Handout via REUTERS (Reuters / Reuters Photos)
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The right has long been furious about social media behemoths stifling conservative voices and banning reports unflattering to Democrats, while the left has urged the companies to ramp up their campaigns against “misinformation” and accuses them of unfairly hindering competitors.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have pushed for breaking up several of the major players.
FOX Business’ Hillary Vaughn and the Associated Press contributed to this report