The Advertising Middlemen Endangering Rigorous Internet Competition Accountability (AMERICA) Act (S.1073) is a proposed bipartisan

antitrust Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust l ...

bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

in the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

. The legislation was introduced by Senator

Mike Lee Michael Shumway Lee (born June 4, 1971) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Utah, a seat he has held since 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party. Lee began his career as a clerk for the U ...

( R- UT) in the

118th Congress The 118th United States Congress is the next meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It is scheduled to meet in Washington ...

on March 30, 2023. The legislation aims to combat

monopoly power A monopoly (from Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situation where a spec ...

in the

advertising technology This is a list of online advertising technology companies. *4INFO * Adbot *Adform *Adobe Systems *ADTECH *Adtile Technologies *Afilias * Alawar Entertainment * Amazon.com *AppNexus *Badgeville *BrightRoll * comScore *Criteo *Daylife *Digital El ...

(adtech) market and has been characterized as an effort to rein in

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

and

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

's dominance in the sector. The legislation is roughly equivalent to legislation proposed by Lee in the 117th Congress.

Background

Google and Facebook controlled an estimated 48.4% of spending in the digital advertising market as of 2022. In January 2023, the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...

filed an antitrust suit against Google over alleged anti-competitive conduct in the digital advertising sector. In the 117th Congress, Lee introduced the Competition and Transparency in Digital Advertising Act (CTDA), which Lee described as "functionally identical" to the AMERICA Act. The CTDA received six

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

cosponsors in the 117th Congress.

Provisions

The AMERICA Act would specifically amend the

Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 The Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 (, codified at , ), is a part of United States antitrust law with the goal of adding further substance to the U.S. antitrust law regime; the Clayton Act seeks to prevent anticompetitive practices in their incipie ...

“to prevent conflicts of interest and promote competition in the sale and purchase of digital advertising”. If enacted, the legislation would curb the ability of companies who process over $20 billion in digital advertising transactions from controlling more than one area of the broader digital advertising business. The AMERICA Act would also prevent "demand-side" digital advertising platforms from owning "supply-side" platforms operating in the sector in most circumstances. Additionally, the legislation would also institute regulations on medium-sized companies in the adtech market which process over $5 billion in digital advertising transactions.

Legislative history

On May 3, 2023, the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust and Consumer Rights held a hearing to consider the legislation.

Cosponsors

In addition to Lee, the legislation has been cosponsored by ten U.S. Senators. Democratic cosponsors: *

Amy Klobuchar Amy Jean Klobuchar ( ; born May 25, 1960) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Minnesota, a seat she has held since 2007. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Minne ...

( D- MN) *

Richard Blumenthal Richard Blumenthal (; born February 13, 1946) is an American lawyer and politician who is the senior United States senator from Connecticut, a seat he has held since 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he is one of the wealthiest members of ...

(D- CT) *

Elizabeth Warren Elizabeth Ann Warren ( née Herring; born June 22, 1949) is an American politician and former law professor who is the senior United States senator from Massachusetts, serving since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party and regarded as a ...

(D- MA) Republican cosponsors: *

Ted Cruz Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States Senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz served as Solicitor General of Texas from ...

( R- TX) *

Marco Rubio Marco Antonio Rubio (born May 28, 1971) is an American politician and lawyer serving as the senior United States senator from Florida, a seat he has held since 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he served as Speaker of the Florida Hous ...

(R- FL) *

Eric Schmitt Eric Stephen Schmitt (born June 20, 1975) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Missouri since 2023. A member of the Republican Party, Schmitt served as a Missouri state senator from 2009 to 2017, ...

(R- MO) *

Josh Hawley Joshua David Hawley (born December 31, 1979) is an American politician and lawyer who has served as the junior United States senator from Missouri since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, Hawley served as the 42nd attorney general of Mi ...

(R-MO) *

Lindsey Graham Lindsey Olin Graham (born July 9, 1955) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from South Carolina, a seat he has held since 2003. A member of the Republican Party, Graham chaired the Senate Committee ...

(R- SC) *

J. D. Vance James David Vance (born James Donald Bowman, August 2, 1984) is an American venture capitalist, author, and politician who is a United States senator-elect from Ohio, elected in 2022. A member of the Republican Party, he came to prominence with ...

(R- OH) * John Kennedy (R- LA)

References

{{reflist United States proposed federal antitrust legislation United States antitrust law Proposed legislation of the 118th United States Congress

Background

Provisions

Legislative history

Cosponsors

See also

References