Colorado businesses ask Polis to back Big Tech
Small businesses in Colorado, fearful of a growing tsunami of federal probes into Big Tech, are asking Gov. Jared Polis to help them rein in any potential disruptions to digital technology platforms during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
In a letter to Polis spearheaded by the nonprofit Connected Commerce Council and signed by 154 Colorado businesses, the group, also called 3C, argued this is “the wrong time to demand changes in digital technology operations and business models.”
“At a federal level, there’s a cold wind blowing, as they say,” 3C President Jake Ward said in a recent phone interview, referring to the antitrust subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee preparing to release a report critical of Big Tech, as well as policy recommendations related to mergers and transparency. There are also two ongoing state attorneys general probes.
“As an organization, the Connected Commerce Council is not opposed to regulation related to tech, big or otherwise,” Ward said. “We feel like any time you can protect the users and secure the free flow of the market you should do that. Anything that keeps the price low for my network, I’m all about. But what we’re really seeing is a destabilization of access to those tools.”
Colorado stay-at-home and Safer at Home orders have limited the number of people allowed in the workplace during the early stages of pandemic, increasing reliance on free or low-cost digital tools such as Google’s G Suite, Zoom video conferencing, Salesforce CRM and a wide array of other marketing and advertising products from Facebook, Amazon and others.
“There’s a feeling that access to those tools, the ability to use those tools at the price that they are currently at, is in danger,” Ward said, “and that creates instability at a time when we simply cannot afford any more uncertainty pushed into the market. It’s hard enough out there.”
Ward added that Polis – one of several governors around the country being targeted by the small-business campaign – is particularly in tune with 3C’s concerns given his background as a highly-successful tech entrepreneur who started and sold several online companies.
“No one wants Colorado’s economy to bounce back stronger than before more than the governor,” Polis press secretary Conor Cahill said of the 3C letter. “As an entrepreneur and business person, the governor understands what it takes to compete and thrive in our economy. and our administration is working with small businesses across the state to ensure they have access to resources they need to weather this crisis and rebuild.”
Cahill did not specifically address Colorado’s participation in two ongoing investigations by states’ attorneys general into Facebook and Google.
“The attorney general of Texas seems poised to file an official suit against Google in the coming weeks, maybe months; could be the fall,” Ward said. “The attorney general of New York seems prepared to do the same against Facebook. And everybody wants a piece of Amazon right now.”
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser last fall joined the New York investigation, and is also part of the Google investigation being led by the Texas AG. Asked to comment on the 3C campaign and the concerns of the Colorado businesses that signed the letter, Weiser spokesman Lawrence Pacheco said he could not comment.
“The Attorney General’s office is part of a multi-state investigation into certain digital platforms, and so the AG cannot comment at this time. Colorado is part of the leadership team leading the [New York] investigation,” Pacheco said, referring to a statement from Weiser last fall.
“This investigation is focused on whether Facebook has engaged in anticompetitive behavior, endangered consumer data, and put the privacy of users at risk,” Weiser’s statement reads, in part. “It is important that we look into concerns about the power of internet platform companies and their impact on Coloradans.”
Ward said he met with Weiser on these issues several months ago and that the AG “has his head screwed on pretty straight about this stuff,” but that 3C continues to hear from its network that the rising tide of regulation could result in increased financial hardship.
“Without digital tools there’s no way I could have maintained the same level of service for my customers across Colorado during this pandemic,” said Carl Ecklund, a general contractor and owner of Ecklund Contracting in Frisco. “We’re lucky to have access to so many free and low-cost digital platforms and tools to stay in business and serve our community.”
Weiser, a former deputy assistant attorney general in the Obama Administration Justice Department who focused on antitrust issues, was honed in on Big Tech on the campaign trail in 2018, criticizing Colorado’s lack of representation at a Department of Justice meeting convened by then U.S. AG Jeff Sessions and prompted by bias complaints from President Donald Trump.
“We have antitrust laws. We have consumer protection laws. State AG’s are expected to enforce them,” Weiser told Colorado Politics at the time. “That’s your job. And some people could call that activism. I call that doing your job, protecting consumers.”
Published: June 4, 2020
By: David Williams, special to Colorado Politics
