Axios: Conservatives Aim to Cool GOP's Newfound Antitrust Fervor
In the News Ashley Baker In the News Ashley Baker

Axios: Conservatives Aim to Cool GOP's Newfound Antitrust Fervor

The Alliance on Antitrust officially launches today, the same day the CEOs of Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook are set to testify in a major antitrust hearing. The new group brings together more than a dozen right-of-center groups and individuals and is spearheaded by the Committee for Justice. The coalition formed in response to calls to weaponize antitrust for broader purposes, Ashley Baker, director of public policy at the Committee for Justice, told Axios.

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Conservative Groups Leveraging Big Tech Hearing for Political Change
In the News Ashley Baker In the News Ashley Baker

Conservative Groups Leveraging Big Tech Hearing for Political Change

Several other conservative groups are concerned that the right’s fury at Big Tech was channeled improperly toward support for antitrust enforcement and want to steer it toward different policy goals. More than a dozen conservative groups formed a new “Alliance on Antitrust” to dampen the populist antitrust movement’s momentum. The alliance’s members include the American Legislative Exchange Council, Citizens Against Government Waste, and FreedomWorks among others. “Instead of pursuing a light-touch approach to antitrust enforcement, some policymakers from across the ideological spectrum are increasingly agitating to use antitrust law as a political weapon against perceived foes,” said Pete Sepp, president of the National Taxpayers Union — another alliance member. “The Alliance on Antitrust can play an important role in persuading lawmakers and regulators to avoid pursuits that would harm American economic growth and recovery.” FreedomWorks senior policy analyst Josh Withrow said in a statement that expanding the scope of antitrust enforcement to include conservative grievances of political bias would open “a Pandora’s box that could have dire consequences throughout our economy.”

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