An industry body whose prominent members include Apple has claimed that there is no support for the tech antitrust bill which could threaten the App Store.
It’s now looking increasingly unlikely that two antitrust bills will make it to a vote before the summer recess – and that raises the prospect that they may be completely sidelined …
Background
Here’s the story so far:
There have been growing concerns about the power and market dominance of a small number of tech giants. Congress has been working on multiple antitrust bills, each designed to tackle different issues. Two of these have progressed to the point where they are ready for a vote:
It is this second bill that poses the greatest threat to Apple, requiring big changes to the App Store business model, including allowing third-party app stores.
Apple has lobbied strongly against this, insisting that having sole control over the sale of iPhone apps is safer for consumers, but continued revelations about multimillion-dollar scams in the App Store have challenged this narrative.
Both bills now require Schumer to schedule votes. He has so far declined to do so, claiming that he supports the laws but wants to be sure they will pass. Others believe that he is less keen than he wishes people to believe, and that he is stalling in the hope that they get buried as attention turns to the midterm elections. He recently claimed that the votes aren’t yet there.
Trade body echoes Schumer on tech antitrust bill
The Wall Street Journal reports that the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) has made the same claim that there is insufficient support for the legislation. Besides Apple, the CCIA’s other members include Amazon, Google parent Alphabet, and Facebook owner Meta – making for some rather strange bedfellows.
Congress is set to depart for its August recess soon without acting on a bipartisan antitrust bill targeting the largest U.S. technology companies, in a setback for supporters who had been pushing for a vote before the busy fall election season.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) plans to hold a vote on the legislation when Congress returns this fall. But the shrinking number of legislative days available plays to the advantage of the tech companies, which can declare victory if Congress doesn’t act.
“If the bill had the support its supporters contended, it wouldn’t be a bill, it would be a law,” said Matt Schruers, president of the CCIA.
Supporters of the bills say they do have the votes.
“We continue to have very strong bipartisan support in both chambers, and the votes to pass it in both chambers,” said Rep. David Cicilline (D., R.I.), one of the bill’s primary sponsors. “It’s really just a matter of getting it on the calendar.”
The big concern now is that if Schumer does delay the vote until after the recess, the make-up of both the House and Senate could change, meaning that there is no way of predicting what level of support might exist in the new chambers.
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