Apr 4, 2022 - Technology

Tech companies, advocacy groups urge antitrust action

Margaret Harding McGill

Illustration of the scales of justice with one side full of a pile of cursors and one side with the Capitol Dome. — Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

Yelp and DuckDuckGo are among the tech companies urging their users to support antitrust bills to rein in Big Tech as part of a day of action with advocacy groups Monday.

The big picture: The pleas aim to boost support on Capitol Hill for proposals that would ban Google and Amazon from favoring their own products in an anticompetitive way and come as key bills await floor votes in the House and Senate.

Driving the news: The antitrust day of action organized by Fight for the Future and other advocacy groups is meant to deluge lawmakers with support for antitrust bills, including Senate bills that would prohibit self-preferencing and regulate mobile app store practices.

Participating companies include Match Group, Automattic, Spotify, ProtonMail, Basecamp and others.
Yelp plans to link to the campaign page from its website and mobile app, while DuckDuckGo will have a link on its search results page, according to Fight for the Future.

The other side: NetChoice, a tech industry group critical of the antitrust measures, is organizing its own week of action with 24 other groups that plan to meet with lawmakers to oppose the bills.

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Tech companies, advocacy groups urge antitrust action

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