The Internet Accountability Project launched a national television ad that called for the break up of Big Tech.
The Daily Caller News Foundation first reported the news.
The IAP launched the ad buy on Newsmax in support of two bills passed in the U.S. Senate. The “Open Markets Act” sought to break up Big Tech, while the “American Innovation and Choice Online Act” aimed to ban “self-preferencing” by Big Tech in a way that “frees up small businesses to compete on a level playing field.”
The IAP said the legislation will give American consumers more options at lower prices.
“We believe the argument to support the legislation is compelling, but Apple and Google will not go quietly,” the project said in a letter to senators that urged them to support the legislation. “Over the coming days, the Big Tech Industrial Complex – which includes various think tanks, academic centers, and advocacy groups – will be flooding the airwaves and your inboxes with fear mongering messages about how the world will end if Congress passes the Open App Markets Act.”
The ad also attacked Apple’s notorious 30% tax on purchases made in the App Store.
“Apple gves preference to their own apps because they impose a 30 percent tax on apps that compete with Apple’s apps,” the IAP added. “Apple also cuts backdoor deals with certain Big Tech companies – including Uber and Amazon – who are not charged the tax while small developers are forced to pay the tax or are unable to afford the entry fee. This creates a marketplace that preferences the big and the powerful, while small businesses are shut out.”
The project said grassroots efforts attracted more support.
“Big Tech’s millions don’t stand a chance against the groundswell of grassroots support for putting an end to their unfair and anticompetitive practices,” Mike Davis, IAP founder and president, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “We thank these senators for their leadership and patriotism. We encourage them to continue their hard work so this bipartisan bill can pass the full Senate.”
One added specifically thanked Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) for his support of the legislation.
“Right now, Big Tech companies like Google and Facebook and their shady lobbyists are spending millions of dollars trying to smear Senator Cruz because he’s standing up to them,” the ad read. “He joined with other senators to advance the Open App Markets Act and Senate bill 2992. He’s standing up to their sweetheart deals with China and their liberal executives who want to crush small businesses and censor conservative voices.”
Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and senators and demand that any ideas they support protect conservative speech. Tech giants should afford their users nothing less than the free speech embodied in the First Amendment as interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
