Sunday, Nov. 7, 2021 | 2 a.m.
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In June, the House Judiciary Committee passed six long-awaited and necessary antitrust bills to regulate Big Tech monopolies like Google and Amazon. The bipartisan legislation, years in the making, would update antitrust rules to prohibit discriminatory conduct by tech giants, bar the use of acquisition tactics to crush competitive threats, and require tech companies to allow consumers to better control their personal data.
Over the past decade, but particularly in the wake of COVID-19, Big Tech monopolies have proven that they cannot be trusted because, time and time again, they swing their weight around to destroy sound public policy, harm workers or decimate the small-business community.
I have first-hand knowledge of some of the threats Big Tech poses. During this year’s Nevada legislative session, I introduced Assembly Bill 221 in order to tear down the barriers Big Tech has erected to stop small businesses and innovative Nevadans from fixing the electronics they have purchased and owned.
Simply put, Big Tech companies like Apple, Google or Amazon are allowed to hide basic information and tools that individuals and repair shops need to fix products — from an iPhone to earbuds to a car — that they have already purchased. This serves no purpose other than to pad Big Tech’s bottom line.
Under AB221, Big Tech would be required to provide relevant information and tools to Nevadans so that they could fix their own equipment. It would have ensconced a simple, fundamental truth into Nevada law: If you own something, you should be able to repair it yourself or take it to a technician of your choice.
Unfortunately, as is the case with so many other good policies, Big Tech unleashed its army of lobbyists to declare this common-sense legislation the beginning of the end of the world.
While a diverse group of Nevadans that included students, parents and small-businesses owners came forth to help advocate for this sound piece of policy, Big Tech was able to take the first round in this battle and kill AB221 for this session.
Thankfully, in July, President Joe Biden issued an executive order to direct regulatory agencies to make it easier for consumers to engage in their right-to-repair on products they buy. However, legislation is still needed at the federal level to comprehensively empower consumers and states to rein in technology companies that have historically run roughshod over regulatory agencies and used interstate commerce laws to ignore state and local actions.
Even worse than its actions against consumer protection laws, Amazon has a history of grossly abusing and harming the very foundation of its company — its workers. To keep up with customer demand during COVID-19, Amazon designated its warehouse workers “essential” and kept its employees in dangerous and unhealthy working environments.
As a result of its workplace policies, from refusing to pay the employees it sent home sick to neglecting to inform warehouse workers about possible COVID-19 exposure in a timely manner, nearly 20,000 Amazon employees contracted COVID-19 in the first six months of the global health crisis. Meanwhile, the pandemic put $86 billion in CEO Jeff Bezos’ coffers, making him the first person in world history with a net worth over $200 billion. That is the essence of Amazon’s ethos: profits over people.
Small businesses are also subject to the whims of Big Tech companies like Amazon. At a House Antitrust Subcommittee field hearing on tech antitrust violations last year, small businesses explained how Amazon exploited its unmatched marketplace power to make its vendors alter their prices to benefit Amazon — or else lose their access to Amazon’s millions upon millions of customers. One of the small businesses that testified at the hearing compared Amazon’s threats to allow counterfeit products to compete with his if he did not lower his prices to “bullying with a smile.”
Amazon and other Big Tech monopolies have been able to claim that they have not violated federal antitrust rules because our antitrust statutes are outdated, only relying on antiquated metrics to determine whether or not a company is hurting consumer welfare. They have also used their market power and dispersed network of locations to ignore state laws and circumvent federal regulatory agencies. It’s time for that to change. Congress must pass the antitrust package advanced by the House Judiciary Committee and modernize our statutes so that Big Tech, like every other American, understands they are not above the law. Without federal action and support, our ability to protect Nevada consumers and small businesses in the next legislative session, or any session after that, will be extremely limited.
Nevada Assemblywoman Selena Torres, D-Las Vegas, represents Assembly District 3.
