Washington, D.C. — Ahead of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s planned markup of the Open App Markets Act on Thursday, a diverse coalition of 13 organizations, including the American Economic Liberties Project, the Center for Digital Democracy, and Demand Progress, today sent a letter to House and Senate Judiciary Committee leadership urging them to support and move forward the bipartisan legislation.

“There is clearly appetite from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to rein in Big Tech’s monopoly power, so it’s critical that both the House and Senate work to swiftly pass the Open App Markets Act,” said Pat Garofalo, Director of State and Local Policy at the American Economic Liberties Project. “Tech giants use their App Store dominance to extract revenue from app developers, hinder innovation, and drive up costs for consumers. Passing the Open App Markets Act is a critical piece in helping release consumers and local businesses alike from Big Tech’s gatekeeping powers.”

The Open App Markets Act would curtail Apple and Google’s monopolistic behavior by facilitating greater payment choices, ensuring app creators can directly communicate with their customers, and reducing the extraction of predatory transaction fees. The legislation would also challenge Google and Apple’s monopoly power by prohibiting the self-preferencing of in-house apps in searches.

The letter writers make it clear: “If this legislation does not pass, Big Tech giants will continue favoring their own apps in the app stores they administer, and small developers will continue to lack access to a level playing field.”

The Open App Markets Act is part of a growing movement from policymakers to rein in Big Tech’s monopoly power. Similar legislation is popping up across the country, including the recently introduced Freedom to Subscribe Directly Act (HB4599/SB3417) in Illinois and nearly half a dozen other bills introduced in other states during the previous legislative session.

Read the letter here.

Learn more about Economic Liberties here.

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The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.