Facing a multimillion-dollar TV ad campaign by Big Tech to try and stop their online competition bill, sponsors of the American Innovation and Choice Online Act said they will not be thwarted by a campaign they assert is full of lies and disinformation.

But the legislators also suggested the campaign may be working since the bill has yet to make it to the floor after a year of work refining the bill with input from stakeholders.

The bill's targets are chiefly Google, Amazon and Apple, all members of the Computer & Communications Industry Association, which is funding the ad campaign.

In a press conference, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and her bill co-sponsors and supporters said they need to get a vote ASAP, before the August recess. She pointed out that the leaders of both the House and Senate need have promised a vote and need to schedule it.

Sen. Klobuchar pointed out that it has been over a year and there has been no vote on the bill. She also said that Big Tech has spent some $70 million on ads in the past year and employed thousands of lobbyists.

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The American Innovation and Choice Online Act was introduced back in October 2021 by Klobuchar, chair of the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee and a self-described leading antitrust reformer, and Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the ranking member, who joined Klobuchar at the press conference to press for a vote.

The bill would prevent an online platform from: 1) keeping another business from interoperating with a dominant platform of other business; 2) requiring a business to buy a dominant platform’s products or services in order to get preferred placement; 3) “misusing” a business“s data to compete against it, and 4) biasing search in their favor.

The bill allows civil penalties for violations of up to 15% of U.S. revenue for the duration of the violation and authorizes a court to penalize a CEO or corporate officer an amount equal to their compensation for the 12 months preceding or following a complaint.

At the press conference, Grassley said that their bill is the best way to address Big Tech's power over “what we buy, see, read and say online.” He said those tens of millions on TV ads were from rant groups spreading “falsehoods” about the bill. “They want to protect the status quo, which allows them to expand influence over the decisions of small businesses or consumers.”

Bill sponsor Rep. David Cicciline (D-R.I.) said the three big lies in the Big Tech ad campaign are that the bill would threaten choice, privacy and national security, none of which he suggested was remotely true.

Looking to aid the bill sponsors' effort, following the June 8 press conference, the Fight for the Future said it had launched a new website, pledging to press Congress to hold votes on the bill in the House and Senate. ■

The FCC is being asked to set a national standard to determine whether mobile and broadband in rural areas is "reasonably comparable" to service in urban areas.

That request came in a bipartisan bill, the Rural Reasonable and Comparable Wireless Act of 2018, introduced Tuesday (Feb. 13) by Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.).

"While progress has been made, too many rural areas continue to fall behind," said Capito, chair of the Senate Broadband Caucus.

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"The Rural Reasonable and Comparable Wireless Act will help bridge this digital divide by helping to ensure that rural areas — like those in West Virginia — have the access to high-speed internet that many of our urban communities do."

FCC chair Ajit Pai has made rural broadband access a key policy priority.

A similar bill was introduced in the House last year by Reps. David McKinley (R-W.Va.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.).

"Correctly identifying areas still in need is very important to ensuring these locations are deemed eligible for critical Mobility Fund II support," said Competitive Carriers Association president Steven K. Berry. "Many competitive carriers serve remote and rural locations and depend on MF II support to expand their networks and provide the best service possible to their customers. All Americans, no matter where they live, work or travel, deserve access to robust mobile service."

Democratic Sens. Patrick Leahy (Vt.), Ron Wyden (Ore.), Al Franken (Minn.), and Cory Booker (N.J.) are not on board with a Republican-backed network neutrality bill that will be the subject of hearings in the House and Senate on Wednesday.

The bill would prevent online blocking, discrimination and paid prioritization, its backers point out, all things many Democrats favor. But it would also limit the FCC's authority under Sec. 706 of the Telecommunications Act, which the FCC uses to buttress regulatory moves to promote broadband deployment and adoption.

The bill is backed by Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), chair of the Senate Commerce Committee and Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), chair of the House Energy & Commcerce Committee, who had billed it as potentially bipartisan.

The Democratic senators took the opportunity to welcome the Republicans into the pro-net neutrality protection fold, but not with the bill they have proposed.

“Senator Thune and the Republicans are right to acknowledge what nearly 4 million Americans have said in their comments to the FCC in support of net neutrality rules – that open Internet rules are critical to free speech and innovation," they said in a joint statement. "We appreciate that the Republican bill also recognizes that net neutrality principles should apply regardless of the technology used to connect to the Internet. We stand ready and willing to work with our Republican colleagues, but unfortunately, the bill as currently drafted would dramatically undermine the FCC’s vital role in protecting consumers and small businesses online by limiting its enforcement and rulemaking authorities in this critically important area.  Further, the Republican bill would severely curtail the FCC’s ability to promote the deployment of broadband service.  The FCC has the necessary authority to enact the open Internet rules that millions of Americans have called for and that Republicans finally support. The Commission should act without delay.”

FCC chairman Tom Wheeler has said that he plans to vote on new rules, likely reclassifying broadband access under Title II, at the Feb. 26 meeting, which means circulating his proposal to the other commissioners on Feb. 5, three weeks before the meeting, as is customary.