Statement from the Connected Commerce Council Criticizing Klobuchar/Grassley Anti-Tech Bill as Harmful to Digitally Empowered Small Businesses 

Washington, DC (June 16, 2023): Connected Commerce Council (3C) Executive Director Rob Retzlaff issued the below statement regarding the reintroduction of Sens. Amy Klobuchar’s (D-MN) and Chuck Grassley’s (R-IA) American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICOA).

“After failing to convince 60 of their colleagues last year to support AICOA, and losing cosponsors this year, a bill that would completely rewrite the rules of the digital economy without regard for potential harm to American small businesses, Sens. Klobuchar and Grassley reintroduced the same bill that would make small business digital tools more expensive and harder to use.

“Affordable, powerful, and integrated digital tools from companies like Amazon and Google helped 85% of small businesses grow over the last two years. Untying those knots will hurt the millions of small businesses that benefit from the digital economy boom that makes it easier and more affordable than ever before to start and run a small business and reach millions of potential customers online. 

“If Congress and the Judiciary Committee care about addressing tech issues that matter to small businesses and consumers, they should pass a national data privacy law. Small businesses need a single, uniform privacy standard that creates one set of rules and balances the need for consumer privacy and the availability of data to power critical digital tools like advertising. AICOA is a boondoggle that small businesses don’t want and didn’t ask for, and 87% are worried the law, if passed, will make digital tools and services more expensive and less useful.”