Senator Klobuchar’s major technical reform bill comes out of the committee

A major technical change bill that could prevent major players in the market – Apple, Amazon, Google, and others – from snooping on small businesses that rely on major platform services is one step closer to the passage Thursday after passing from the oversight committee. Bipartisan 16-6 votes. Senators Mike Lee, John Cornyn, Ben Sasse, Tom Cotton, Thom Tillis, and Marsha Blackburn all voted against it.

The American Innovation and Choice Online Act, sponsored by Senator Amy Klobuchar, banned Amazon from promoting its Amazon Basics weapons on similar terms in search results. Similarly, Apple and Google will be banned from pushing their in-app apps than those from third-party developers in their app stores. The bill was passed by the main opposition committee and the executive committee with the support of the vote and will now be submitted to the Senate.

Not surprisingly, the platforms affected by these laws are not happy with what has happened recently. Apple’s Tim Cook he says he himself has been pressuring her not to agree with the bill when Amazon has released the following statement:

There is a reason why small businesses that sell on Amazon are asking Congress to look into the “collateral damage” that could befall them and their customers, if the American Innovation and Choice Online Act becomes law. This bill is being drafted to speed up the process of legislation without the consent of its authors for its unintended consequences. As noted, vague billing restrictions and unlimited monetary sanctions – up to 15% of US dollars, not cash – would jeopardize our ability to allow small businesses to sell on Amazon. The bill will also make it harder for us to secure a one-day or two-day shipping of those small business items – Amazon Prime’s huge profits to retailers and customers alike. The bill writers are looking at what happens to regular sellers and, with difficulty, seem to be choosing Amazon while providing support to other major retailers who do the same. We urge the Senate Judicial Committee to reject the bills of Senator Klobuchar and Senator Grassley and to refrain from running into a well-known bill with unintended consequences.

A similar bill has already passed a member of the House Judiciary Committee, although the President has not yet commented on his support for the proposal.