Lamenting “this political campaign against American technology,” Larry Melton of Gilbert, Arizona, warns, “our leaders need to strengthen, not weaken, American technology.” “I don’t understand why some in Congress want to take away the technology we use every day,” the owner of a small plumbing business worries in an American Edge ad. These commercials also fail to mention what legislation concerns them, how those concerns could be fixed, or how the horrors they warn of could actually happen. Adopting the common “don’t break” tag line, however, the ad concludes, “Don’t break American technology when we need it most.” Which Side Are You On?Īnother advertising campaign is being run by a heretofore unknown organization named American Edge Project. Referencing the Russian attack on Ukraine and “cyber warfare against the U.S.,” the ad rhetorically asks, “Why is Congress considering legislation that makes us less safe?” Unlike the CCIA ads, these commercials reference no specific piece of legislation.
The CTA angle of attack is that antitrust legislation is a national security threat.
#Ad wars for the smartphone market full#
The bill doesn’t reach conclusions about companies but would instead require antitrust authorities to make their case in court where the companies would have the full opportunity to challenge the contention that certain practices are anticompetitive.Īnother industry group, the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), has also been running advertisements. However, as my colleague Bill Baer has pointed out, the legislation is far more nuanced than what the commercials suggest. If enacted, the legislation “could break Amazon’s guaranteed two-day delivery,” the commercial warns. 2992, the bipartisan American Innovation and Choice Act that would empower the government to challenge self-preferencing practices of the online platforms if they are determined to be anticompetitive.Īmazon, which is often mentioned as engaging in self-preferencing, is the focus of another CCIA advertisement. “Congress has plans that could stop progress in its tracks, breaking the products and services you love,” the commercial warns. “ Don’t Break What Works” is the theme of the CCIA advertisements. CCIA represents companies such as Amazon, Apple, Meta/Facebook, and Alphabet/Google. The CCIA commercials reportedly focused on the swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Wisconsin, and New Hampshire. Of the $36 million spent to date, The Wall Street Journal reports the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) has spent the most-over $24 million. “A multimillion-dollar campaign is pushing Dems to ditch antitrust reform,” The Washington Post headlined. Government oversight “would mean a general unsettling of affairs” within the industry and the wider public, they argued. Playing off the ignorance of the public (and Congress) about the details of its business, the railroads warned disaster would be the result of any government intrusion. In The Bully Pulpit, Doris Kearns Goodwin described its 19 th-century implementation: “Troubled by the passage of the regulatory bill in the House, the railroads launched a sweeping propaganda campaign to turn the country against regulation.” Ĭommenting on the industry campaign, the Fairhope Courier of Des Moines, Iowa-whose readers were farmers abused by the railroads’ practices-editorialized, “It is a little startling to read how the railroad combines first to rob the country of millions, and then to use a portion of this fund stolen from the people to corrupt the sources of information and thus try to perpetuate their robbery through a blinded public opinion.” Twitter amass great fortunes through market exploitation, and then use part of those riches to pay for propaganda opposing regulation, is a timeless political strategy.