Houston Republic

A bill called the American Innovation and Choice Online Act that would give federal agencies more power to regulate big-tech companies has drawn the support of conservative Republicans such Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

The legislation, Senate Bill 2992, cleared the Senate judiciary committee in January. It is sponsored by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.).

"I think big tech censorship is the single greatest threat to free speech in America, and it is the single greatest threat to free and fair elections in America," Cruz said during the committee hearing.

But an analysis of the bill by Ashley Baker, director of public policy at the Committee for Justice, a group that opposes the measure, shows that big-tech firms would neither be broken up, nor would they be prohibited from canceling speech on their platforms with which they disagreed.

“If this bill (S. 2992) were law, not a single company would be required to do anything different to conservative speech on their platform,” Baker said. “Furthermore, the behavior that the bill seeks to regulate is not anti-competitive. Companies that are not covered under the bill promote their own products and services, both in stores and online, every day. If it is the behavior that is the problem, then the bill wouldn’t apply to just a handful of companies.”

The legislation would give additional powers to government oversight agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission, chaired by Lina Khan, who is seen by many as an activist leader aimed at aggressively challenging mergers and acquisitions.

 Last October, Khan proposed a new four-year strategic document for the FTC that would dramatically shift goals toward “marginalized” communities, citing increased focusing on the “underserved,” and prioritizing social “equity” over other goals — all signaling a historic shift in the commission’s mission toward socially progressive aims. 

“It is disconcerting to see some Republican senators who are angry at Big Tech for unrelated reasons supporting this bill, when they know it will empower and embolden progressives at the Federal Trade Commission and in the Biden Justice Department bent on targeting all sectors of the economy," Baker said. "The bill would give left-leaning bureaucrats unprecedented power to manipulate the free market and the design of consumer products and services. At worst, that power will be used to advance political and social agendas that have nothing to do with promoting competition or advancing consumer welfare.”

Progressives say they aren't worried about S. 2992.

Groups like Accountable Tech, which advocate canceling conservative speech deemed by progressives as "dangerous" or "hate speech," say they are not worried that bills that would limit the ability of Big Tech platforms to throw conservative speakers off their platforms.

“We wouldn't be supporting this bill if we felt it threatened platforms' ability to properly enforce their rules to safeguard people from harm,” said Jesse Lehrich, co-founder of Accountable Tech.

Not only will the antitrust bills being considered in Congress not prohibit tech “cancel culture," some say they may do the opposite.

“If passed, [S. 2992] will be enforced by the Federal Trade Commission, led by Lina Khan, who has argued that increased antitrust enforcement would harm a Big Tech business model that ‘incentivizes the dissemination of disinformation,'" Richard Hanania, president of the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology and research fellow at Defense Priorities, wrote in Newsweek.

One of Khan's senior advisers is Meredith Walker, who has called the Daily Caller a "hate site,” Hanania wrote.