Owens, Buck Announce the ACCESS Act

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As part of a series of bipartisan antitrust bills, U.S. Rep. Burgess Owens (UT-04) joined Rep. Ken Buck (CO-04) and other lawmakers to announce the Augmenting Compatibility and Competition by Enabling Service Switching (ACCESS) Act. The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-05), promotes competition online by lowering barriers to entry and switching costs for businesses and consumers through interoperability and data portability requirements.

“There’s little question that Big Tech platforms are powered by massive troves of user data, over which consumers lack significant control,” said Rep. Owens. “Americans deserve to have more ownership over their personal information with the ability to seamlessly transfer that data between platforms of their choice. I’m proud to join Rep. Buck in taking action to put consumers back into the driver’s seat, cut Big Tech’s unchecked power, and level the playing field for smaller platforms in the marketplace.”

“Big Tech has abused its dominance in the marketplace to crush competitors, censor speech, and control how we see and understand the world,” said Rep. Buck. “Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google have prioritized power over innovation and harmed American businesses and consumers in the process. These companies have maintained monopoly power in the online marketplace by using a variety of anticompetitive behaviors to stifle competition. This legislation breaks up Big Tech’s monopoly power to control what Americans see and say online, and fosters an online market that encourages innovation and provides American small businesses with a fair playing field. Doing nothing is not an option, we must act now.”

###