Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), chair of the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee and a self-described leading antitrust reformer, has teamed with Republican senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas to introduce yet another bill designed to rein in Big Tech.

The Platform Competition and Opportunity Act addresses one of Klobuchar's longstanding concerns, which is that Big Tech got that way by buying up smaller potential competitors before they got big enough to raise antitrust red flags. Critics said that part of the motivation for innovative startups is coming up with a better mousetrap, then selling it to the Big Cheese for big bucks, so putting a damper on that would discourage innovators and the venture capitalists who love them.

The bill, according to Klobuchar, would “halt harmful consolidation” by:

1. “Giving antitrust enforcers stronger authority to stop acquisitions by dominant platforms that primarily serve to kill competitive threats or enhance the platform’s monopoly power, including acquisitions:

A. Of direct competitors;

B. That reinforce or expand a platform’s market position;

C. Of potential competitors; and

D. Of data that strengthen or expand a platform’s dominance.

2. "Shifting the burden in merger enforcement to dominant platforms to demonstrate the merger is not anticompetitive.

3. "Striking the appropriate balance for merger enforcement in digital markets by permitting dominant platforms to make acquisitions that do not threaten competition or enhance monopoly power."

“As dominant digital platforms — some of the biggest companies our world has ever seen — increasingly give preference to their own products and services, we must put policies in place to ensure small businesses and entrepreneurs still have the opportunity to succeed in the digital marketplace,” Klobuchar said. “This bill will do just that, while also providing consumers with the benefit of greater choice online.”

Said Cotton: “Big tech firms have bought up rivals to crush their competition, expand their monopolistic market share, and to harm working Americans. Under this bill, the largest tech monopolies will have the burden of proving that further acquisitions are lawful and good for the American people.”

Klobuchar has also teamed with another high-profile Republican, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), to introduce the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, which prevents larger online platforms 1) from keeping another business from interoperating with a another platform; 2) from requiring a business to buy a dominant platform's wares to get preferred placement; 3) from “misusing” a business's data to compete against it; and 4) from biasing search in their favor.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), chair of the powerful Senate Antitrust Subcommittee, said the Justice Department will need to scrutinize carefully Amazon's proposed purchase of MGM.

PTC Pounds Proposed AT&T/Discovery Merger

Amazon has agreed to pay $8.45 billion for MGM assets, which include a library of 4,000 movies, including the Bond franchise, and over 17,000 episodes of TV.

Klobuchar, who has been no big fan of big media mergers, called the deal a major one that could impact millions of consumers--certainly that is what Amazon is hoping. 

"The Department of Justice must conduct a thorough investigation to ensure that this deal won’t risk harming competition," said Klobuchar. Amazon would argue it is only trying to make its Amazon Prime more competitive with the 800 pound "King Kong vs. the Streamers": Netflix.

But if, as some analysts predict, other efforts to combine streamers with traditional studio assets--NCBU, ViacomCBS-- ensue, that yellow flag for D.C., particularly Democrats but also Republicans not looking for Big Tech to get more powerful, could turn to red.

Klobuchar called the proposal a reminder of why antitrust agencies--DOJ and the Federal Trade Commission divvy up antitrust reviews--need more funding so they can investigate such multibillion-dollar deals. "Our government cannot ensure major corporations are playing by the rules if enforcement agencies are chronically underfunded," she said.

Klobuchar Introducing Big Tech Antitrust Bill

She took the opportunity to plug her legislation, which has passed the judiciary committee and would boost the resources needed to conduct the kind of vigorous review she wants of the Amazon-MGM deal.

Another day, another comprehensive broadband infrastructure bill.  

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) has introduced The Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act, the Senate version of a House bill that would invest $100 billion to build broadband in underserved areas as well as requiring an "affordable" broadband offering from anyone getting those build-out bucks. 

The House version was introduced last week by Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.), whose daughter, Mignon Clyburn, is the former FCC chair who has made closing the digital divide a priority in her post-FCC work. 

"I am pleased Sen. Klobuchar is leading the Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act in the Senate,” Rep. James Clyburn said in a statement. “This legislation was crafted in collaboration with the House Rural Broadband Task Force and members of the Energy and Commerce Committee. It invests over $100 billion to build nationwide high-speed broadband infrastructure, and makes the resulting internet service affordable for all. Sen. Klobuchar understands the needs of underserved communities and has been a consistent champion for the expansion of high-speed broadband access. I look forward to working together to pass this critical piece of legislation in both chambers." 

Co-sponsors of the Senate bill include Sens. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Mark R. Warner (D-Va.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen (both D-Nev.). 

“Broadband is now essential for work, education, healthcare, and so much of modern life," said FCC commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel of the Hill efforts to goose deployment. "So kudos to Senator Klobuchar and her colleagues for their efforts to develop a plan to connect us all. Working together like this we can solve the digital divide, fix the homework gap, and give everyone a fair shot at internet age success,” said FCC commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. 

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, has introduced a bill that could give antitrust authorities more tools to pursue potentially anticompetitive edge giants, including by fining them up to 15% of revenues for violations. 

The bill, The Anticompetitive Exclusionary Conduct Prevention Act, would "deter anticompetitive abuses that distort the competitive process and harm consumers, innovation, and new business formation." 

Currently the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission are investigating situations where large online companies like Google or Facebook buy up smaller potential competitors, and whether current antitrust law captures that as potential exclusionary conduct given that the companies being bought are too small to raise anticompetitive red flags at the time of purchase. 

Related: Senators Seek DOJ Assurances Google Investigation Includes Search

“We have a major monopoly problem in this country, which harms consumers and threatens free and fair competition across our economy," said Klobuchar of the bill. "Companies need to be put on notice that exclusionary behavior that threatens competition cannot continue. Our legislation will deter anticompetitive abuses, helping to protect the competitive markets that are critical to ensuring fair prices for products and services, spurring innovation, and preserving opportunity for American entrepreneurs.” 

She cited online commerce as well as pharmaceuticals and agriculture when talking about "harmful exclusionary practices by powerful companies [that] threaten free and fair competition, as decades of federal court decisions have chilled enforcement under existing laws." 

The bill: 

1. "Amends the Clayton Antitrust Act to prohibit 'exclusionary conduct' that presents an 'appreciable risk of harming competition.' 

  a. "Shifts the Burden of Proof so that powerful companies that have a market share of greater than 50% or that otherwise have substantial market power would have to prove that their exclusionary conduct in the markets they dominate does not present an 'appreciable risk of harming competition.' 

  b. "Allows DOJ and FTC to seek substantial civil penalties for violations of up to 15% of total U.S. revenues or 30% of the affected U.S. revenues in addition to other remedies available under the Clayton Act. 

2. "Eliminate Unnecessary “Market Definition” Requirements: Courts often require claimants to prove a relevant market to establish liability under the antitrust laws, even in the face of clear evidence of competitive harm. The bill clarifies that the antitrust laws do not require definition of a relevant market, unless the statutory language explicitly requires it to resolve the case.  

3. "Prevent Courts from Improperly Implying Antitrust Immunities: Courts have implied immunity from the antitrust laws for certain conduct based on the existence of federal regulation, in certain circumstances ignoring statutory savings clauses passed by Congress. This bill limits the ability of courts to imply antitrust immunity for regulated conduct. " 

“AAI supports Senator Klobuchar’s bill to strengthen U.S. law to limit harmful conduct by dominant firms⎼⎼an area of antitrust that has been largely unenforced for decades,” said Diana L. Moss, president, American Antitrust Institute. “The bill will set forth clear, strong, and needed criteria for policing conduct that is designed to drive rivals from markets. It should garner broad bi-partisan support from members of Congress who seek to protect our markets, competition, consumers, and workers.” 

Co-sponsoring the bill were Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-N.Y.)
 and Cory Booker (D-N.J.).

Off the campaign trail but still very much on the media oversight beat, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) joined with other Democratic legislators to push Department of Justice antitrust chief Makan Delrahim for some answers. 

The questions had to do with reports that he improperly encouraged Dish to lobby on the T-Mobile-Sprint merger, which the FCC, and Justice, ultimately approved. 

They came in a letter to Delrahim from Klobuchar and a number of other senators, including another former presidential candidate Cory Booker (D-N.J.). 

The reports are not new. Dish chairman Charlie Ergen testified back in December that Delrahim had counseled him to ask a senator to talk with the FCC about approving the deal, which included spinning off some assets to Dish. 

“Law enforcement and regulatory decisions must be based on an objective assessment of the law and the facts, not on political pressure applied by one federal agency against another by way of private sector proxies,” they wrote in a letter Friday. “The Antitrust Division should focus on vigorous antitrust enforcement, not providing lobbying advice to private parties to influence the regulatory processes of other federal agencies.”  

They want a bunch of questions answered by April 6, including whether it was appropriate for Justice officials to encourage private parties to lobby, were there other instances where that has happened, and are there any current DOJ policies related to such actions. 

They also want all documents and communications related to urging a private party to communicate or lobby Congress with respect to the T-Mobile-Sprint merger. 

The "they" on the letter, in addition to Klobuchar, ranking member of the Antitrust Committee, were Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), chairman of the House Antitrust Subcommittee, as well as members of their respective subcommittee's Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Reps. Jayapal (D-Wash), Val Demings (D-Fla.), and Lucy McBath (D-Ga.). 

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) plans to join South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg and billionaire financier Tom Steyer in exiting the Democratic presidential race before Super Tuesday (March 3), according to various news outlets including CNN. 

But her TV ads are a gift that keeps on giving to media outlets. In a commercial break in a CNN newscast on Klobuchar's exit, there was Klobuchar talking in an ad about the kind of President she would be. 

Related: Klobuchar Proposes Aggressive Election Counter-Interference Operation

Email solicitations from the campaign were still going out midday seeking contributions to the Klobuchar candidacy, but that was also the case with the campaign of Buttigieg Sunday (March 1), even as he was dropping out. 

Klobuchar is a familiar face to media companies. The senator recently supported a bill that would re-regulate cable franchise fees, and one that would created a privacy bill of rights. She has long been a critic of media consolidation and supporter of "dig once" policies directing broadband deployments to be coordinated with road construction and improvements. 

She had also promised universal broadband access by midpoint of a Klobuchar presidency. 

Look for Klobuchar to continue to be involved in election issues, at least in pushing for her Honest Ads Act. 

The Honest Ads Act, which was proposed in the wake of that 2016 meddling and introduced two years ago in tandem with Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), ranking member of the Intelligence Committee, would create online political ad public files (Facebook has already voluntarily created one of those) and bar foreign entities from ad buys to influence elections. 

Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) Thursday (Oct. 19) will introduce their bill to try and prevent any foreign interference in future elections and improve online political ad transparency.

Some had been looking for it to be introduced a couple of weeks ago, but the draft was still being tweaked.

That comes in the wake of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, including by buying online ads on Facebook, Twitter and Google.

"The Honest Ads Act would prevent foreign actors from influencing our elections by ensuring that political ads sold online are covered by the same rules as ads sold on TV, radio, and satellite," according to the senators, who are unveiling the bill at a Capitol Hill press conference.

Political ads on radio and TV are required to identify who is funding them, though many Democrats argue the FCC rules on those disclosures need to be tightened to better identify the actual funders rather than simply the PACS, with names like Americans for a Better America, getting that money.

Online advertisers have been raising concerns that the bill could put a crimp in their political ad sales.

"Online ads are the fuel that powers the unlimited expressions and presentations of free speech on the open internet," says Dave Grimaldi, executive VP of public policy for the Interactive Advertising Bureau. "Growing the vibrant media ecosystem, keeping the public trust, and enhancing the transparency of our industry – for online ads in particular – are goals we share with Senators Klobuchar and Warner. We look forward to working with them to advance this shared objective while maintaining and protecting the First Amendment rights political ads embody."

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) has warned attorney general Jeff Sessions that any political interference in the Justice Department's review of the AT&T-Time Warner merger would be "unacceptable."

Klobuchar was responding to a report in the New York Times that White house advisors have discussed leveraging the deal against Time Warner-owned CNN, which President Donald Trump has hammered as fake news, most recently in a Tweet featuring him pummeling a figure with a CNN logo for a head.

Trump said as a candidate his White House would oppose the deal.

In a letter to Sessions, Klobuchar said that while she has "serious questions" about thbe deal's impact, questions she also conveyed to Sessions, she told him "the transaction should be judged solely on its impact on competition, innovation, and consumers, not as 'leverage' for political gain," adding: "Any political interference in antitrust enforcement is unacceptable. Even more concerning, in this instance, is that it appears that some advisers to the President may believe that it is appropriate for the government to use its law enforcement authority to alter or censor the press. Such an action would violate the First Amendment.”

She had some questions she wanted answered as well as offering that word of warning. They were: "Has any employee of the White House or adviser to the President (either official or unofficial) had any contact with any Department of Justice employee regarding the AT&T/Time Warner transaction?; If so, did those interactions comply with existing policies?;" and "will you commit to notifying the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, as well as the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Antitrust Subcommittee, should any such contacts occur?"