Congress is now considering a government takeover of app stores. Lawmakers say they’re taking on social media giants like Facebook—and yet, Facebook would benefit enormously from this rash rewrite of antitrust law, while small app makers would bear the costs.
Limit Opportunities for Small Business, Says Congress
App developers and related businesses employ more than 5.9 million Americans, across all 50 states, comprising a 1.7 trillion-dollar app economy. The app economy has created the highest job growth of any industry in Colorado, Georgia, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, and Virginia. For small app makers, the app stores are a key ingredient to their ability to continue this incredible growth. The last thing small developers want is for Congress to undermine them so that Facebook can squirm free of software platform-imposed restrictions on its vast data collection enterprise.
Mixed race businesswoman frustrated at computer at desk in office
Your Privacy is For Sale, Says Congress
The reason is simple: The American Innovation and Choice Online Act (S. 2992) and the Open App Markets Act (S. 2710) would prohibit the app stores’ privacy controls that prevent Facebook from tracking you across apps without your express consent. The proposals would open up treasure troves of consumers’ most sensitive data, and yet we still lack a strong federal privacy law that sets rules of the road for protecting, processing, and providing transparency about personal information.
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