Washington, D.C. – The American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement after the Arizona House voted to approve HB 2005, a bill to limit the power of dominant app distributors such as Apple and Google.

“Bills like the one approved by the Arizona House today would help address the range of harms that gatekeepers like Apple and Google pose to small businesses, entrepreneurs, consumers and local communities,” said Pat Garofalo, Director of State and Local Policy at the American Economic Liberties Project. “That the bill successfully passed is proof that there is a growing desire to rein in the power of the Big Tech companies that hold sway over key areas of commerce.”

“The dominance of Big Tech firms has resulted in many tangible harms to small businesses and local communities by choking innovation, depressing business dynamism, and undermining job growth. Small businesses exist at the whims of platform monopolies that can arbitrarily crush them overnight, with no warning or recourse, if they don’t agree to turn over a significant cut of their revenue in order to access their own customers. Bills such as HB 2005 are one part of addressing those harms,” added Garofalo.

“We hope the Arizona Senate swiftly approves the bill as well, and that similar bills that have been introduced in other states such as Minnesota, Illinois, and New York are passed into law. We are eager to support lawmakers and antitrust enforcers looking to challenge dominant Big Tech corporations,” said Garofalo.

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, economicliberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. EconomicLiberties 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.