Call Congress: End Big Tech monopolies

 

What do Amazon, Meta, Google, and Apple all have in common? These corporations own so much of the tech market that they get to decide how you experience the internet and how technology impacts our communities. This often results in us having to play by the broken rules of Big Tech companies who use their bigness to undermine our democracy, suppress competition, and abuse our personal data to make money. But this could all change soon. The Senate is set to vote on crucial antitrust legislation in the coming weeks that will fundamentally challenge Big Tech monopolies. The Open App Markets Act (OAMA) and the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICO) will make it more difficult for Big Tech companies to get bigger by limiting how they acquire competing companies and curbing a company’s ability to traffic to their own platforms instead of others. These bills have bipartisan support and it’s possible that these bills could be voted on this week.  Can you take a few minutes to call your Senators today? Let’s tell Congress that it’s time to end Big Tech monopolies and pass antitrust reform. Click here to get connected to your Senator. CLICK TO CALL CONGRESS Passing antitrust reform is so important and puts the power back in the hands of users while making it more difficult for corporations to skirt accountability and regulation from agencies like the FTC and the DOJ.1 Big Tech has spent $36 million trying to shut down these bills and we need your help to put as much pressure as possible on Congress.2 Legislators need to hear from you, their constituents, that taking on Big Tech will give back to users the fundamental freedom to choose — to choose how to experience the internet, to choose how to spend our money, to choose how to connect with other people around the world. Kairos is joining Fight for the Future and dozens of organizations across the country in urging our elected officials to take action on Big Tech monopolies. Will you join us? Click here to call your Senators and urge them to support antitrust reform. Until tech works for all, Rico, Kairos Campaign Manager   Sources: 1. “What the antitrust proposals would actually mean for tech,” Protocol, 1 October 2020. 2. “Big Tech Has Spent $36 Million on Ads to Torpedo Antitrust Bill,” The Wall Street Journal, June 9, 2022.

Fueling Another Insurrection

 

In the weeks leading up to January 6, 2021, rioters took to social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and 4chan to propagate the Big Lie and plan a violent takeover of the United States Congress. These social media platforms are complicit in an insurrection that left five Americans dead and over 140 Capitol police officers injured. They have profited by fueling the disinformation crisis that has aided in the rise of extremist groups like QAnon. The January 6th insurrection was symptomatic of a larger threat to our democracy. A handful of global corporations have taken control of the internet, the dominant medium of all modern communication and commerce, and have used that control to violate personal privacy and to promote unprecedented amplification of dangerous disinformation and vitriol. If left unchecked, social media companies will no doubt play a significant role in the next violent attack on our republic, all in the name of turning a profit. That’s why Free Speech For People has introduced the Big Tech Accountability Act, a model bill that would hold social media companies accountable for amplifying disinformation and violence via their online platforms. Sign the petition: Support the Big Tech Accountability Act. It’s time to hold social media and streaming giants accountable for spreading false information and amplifying threats of violence on their online platforms. With the Big Tech Accountability Act, we can put an end to the unchecked corporate power of social media companies. Sign if you agree: We must put a stop to the spread of dangerous false information and violence online by passing the Big Tech Accountability Act. In solidarity, Free Speech For People Paid for by Free Speech For People contact@freespeechforpeople.org