A group of 13 companies urged the U.S. Congress on Tuesday to approve a bill that would rein in giant tech companies like Alphabet’s Google and Meta’s Facebook.
These companies, whose products offer alternatives to those produced by technology giants have come out in favor of federal regulation that would help curb the excesses of the largest companies.
DuckDuckGo, which offers a privacy-focused search engine that competes with Google, and Mozilla, the longtime purveyor of a browser that competes with Microsoft’s, both stated their support for the proposed legislation in a letter to members of the U.S. House and Senate.
“We, the undersigned privacy companies and organizations, urge Congress to schedule floor votes for the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICOA) as soon as possible,” stated Mozilla. “This bill has been delayed for far too long and the American public deserves the kind of innovative online ecosystem it would create.”
“Our companies and organizations offer privacy protective alternatives to the services provided by dominant technology companies,” stated Mozilla. “While more and more Americans are embracing privacy-first technologies, some dominant firms still use their gatekeeper power to limit competition and restrict user choice. We implore you to pass AICOA as it would remove barriers for consumers to freely select privacy protective services,” the company added.
