California antitrust bill to rein in Big Tech stalls
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A closely watched attempt to rein in Big Tech's influence over online marketplaces stalled in the California Legislature this week.
Why it matters: The bill's failure shows the difficulty of translating growing bipartisan concern over Big Tech's power into clear guardrails — leaving startups, consumers and regulators navigating a market largely shaped by the platforms themselves.
Driving the news: The California Senate Privacy, Digital Technologies and Consumer Protection Committee deadlocked 3-3 Monday on Sen. Scott Wiener's Senate Bill 1074, halting what would have been one of the most aggressive state-level efforts to curb how Big Tech platforms operate.
Wiener framed the measure as a long-overdue update to antitrust law, arguing federal regulations haven't kept pace with the modern digital economy.
- "Big Tech has immense power over every aspect of our lives," Wiener said after the vote. "We all deserve an internet that is free from interference by giant monopolistic corporations."
Between the lines: The bill — dubbed the BASED Act, short for Blocking Anticompetitive Self-preferencing by Entrenched Dominant platforms — aimed to rewrite the rules for trillion-dollar tech companies that function as both marketplaces and competitors.
- The proposal targeted "self-preferencing," a practice critics say allows companies including Apple, Amazon, Google and Meta to tilt the playing field in their favor — by promoting their own products in search results, using third-party data to launch competing services or setting pricing rules that disadvantage smaller players.
- The bill would have created a list of prohibited conduct for the largest platforms with at least $1 trillion in market value and 100 million U.S. users, and allow the state and private parties to sue over violations.
Supporters, including Y Combinator, hundreds of startups and consumer advocates, cast the bill as pro-competition and warned the stakes would extend to the AI boom, where access to app stores, search and social feeds could determine which startups survive.
The other side: The opposition — led by major tech companies and business groups — argued the bill amounted to a risky rewrite of California's antitrust playbook that moved too far into untested territory.
- The California Chamber of Commerce called it a "flawed" overhaul reliant on vague standards that could trigger costly litigation and raise prices for consumers.
- That argument was echoed by companies such as Apple, which told lawmakers the bill mirrors Europe's Digital Markets Act — a law the company claims has led to stifled innovation, weaker user experiences and new privacy risks.
The big picture: California's deadlock mirrors a broader national impasse: Lawmakers increasingly agree that dominant tech companies maintain monopolies by acting as both gatekeepers and competitors, but they remain divided on how to curb that power without disrupting the industry's growth or creating unintended economic consequences.
What's next: Wiener said he plans to revive the proposal and find other pathways to "push back against these abuses."
- Meanwhile, Assembly Bill 1776 — another bill aimed at expanding state antitrust law — is advancing through the Legislature.