By: Bloomberg
Date: January 19, 2022
A tech-backed group is warning the White House that supporting an antitrust bill designed to curb the power of internet giants isn’t politically popular and could hurt Democrats ahead of November’s midterm elections.
The Chamber of Progress, which counts Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc., Meta Platforms Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google among its members, on Tuesday shared its own polling figures with White House officials showing that voters in key states don’t prioritize technology regulation.
The outreach is part of a lobbying blitz to dampen support for bipartisan antitrust proposals aimed at these four companies, especially a bill from Minnesota Democrat Amy Klobuchar and Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley that’s slated to be considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday. While lawmakers have been pushing President Joe Biden to publicly endorse the bill, the companies maintain that offering explicit support would come at a political cost.