Klobuchar Statement on the Google Antitrust Remedy Decision

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) released the following statement on the D.C. District Court's remedies to Google's online search monopoly:

"Today's ruling is a reminder of Google's sweeping power over the online economy, but the limited remedies ordered by the court demonstrate why we need additional rules of the road for Big Tech. That's why we must pass my bipartisan American Innovation and Choice Online Act to stop dominant platforms like Google from continuing to unfairly preference their own products over competitors' - which hurts consumers and entrepreneurs, and stifles innovation," said Klobuchar.

"Through three administrations, our antitrust enforcers have proven that Google's tactics endanger the future of a free and open internet and risk choking off innovation in critical areas like artificial intelligence. I will continue to work across the aisle to ensure even the most powerful tech companies have to play by the rules."

Klobuchar has long been a leading advocate for taking on Big Tech monopolies and championing antitrust efforts.

In 2023, Klobuchar and Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) reintroduced their American Innovation and Choice Online Act which would set clear, effective rules to protect competition and prevent self-preferencing by the most economically significant online platforms, while maintaining a secure online experience for users, including:

• Prohibiting dominant platforms from abusing their gatekeeper power by favoring their own products or services, disadvantaging rivals, or discriminating among businesses that use their platforms in a manner that would materially harm competition on the platform; and
• Prohibiting specific forms of conduct that are harmful to small businesses, entrepreneurs, and consumers, but that do not have any pro-competitive benefit, including:
• • Preventing another business's product or service from interoperating with the dominant platform or another business;
  • Requiring a business to buy a dominant platform's goods or services for preferred placement on its platform;
  • Misusing a business's data to compete against them; and
  • Biasing search results in favor of the dominant firm.
• Give antitrust enforcers strong, flexible tools to deter violations and hold dominant platforms accountable when they cross the line into illegal behavior, including significant civil penalties, authority to seek broad injunctions, emergency interim relief, and potential forfeiture of executive compensation.

In December 2022, Klobuchar and Grassley's Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act was passed into law. This legislation updated merger filing fees for the first time since 2001, lowering fees on smaller acquisitions, and increasing them for the largest mergers, raising additional revenue that Congress can use to fund antitrust enforcement, and ultimately giving the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division the resources necessary to try and win cases against Big Tech.

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