WASHINGTON – As the Digital Markets Act (DMA) takes effect in Europe today, Competitiveness Coalition Chair Scott Brown blasted the Biden Administration for working alongside overseas regulators to impose sweeping new regulations on American innovators.

Passed in 2022, the DMA unabashedly targets America’s tech sector as 21 of the 22 core platform services obligated to meet the law’s unprecedented mandates (such as forced data sharing, interoperability) are U.S. companies. As noted by Bloomberg News, the law imposes, “a strict list of do’s and don’ts — or face the threat of significant fines.”

According to media reports last year, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) dispatched respective taxpayer-funded agency officials to help with implementation. The FTC previewed this commitment in a March 2023 press release and a Politico EU report last spring that agency staff were dispatched to Brussels for six months to “provide technical assistance” to the European Commission. 

“Our own government shouldn’t be actively undercutting America’s interests overseas, but that’s exactly what has occurred under President Joe Biden’s watch,” said Chair Scott Brown. “Woke left-wing antitrust warriors Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter and FTC Chair Lina Khan failed to persuade Congress to pass their anti-consumer agenda, so they looked to Europe to finish the task. The Digital Markets Act unfairly penalizes American companies for their success and its disastrous future impact on U.S. jobs, growth and investment will be yet another chapter in the sad saga of Bidenomics.”

As described by The Wall Street Journal editorial board, the DMA is ostensibly aimed at helping European companies compete with American tech firms, “though Chinese companies like ByteDance may turn out to be the biggest beneficiaries.” 

Since 2022, the Competitiveness Coalition has been sounding the alarm on the FTC’s and DOJ’s egregious overreach and concerning actions. To learn more about the Coalition’s work on this front, please visit www.competitivenesscoalition.com.

Members of the press can contact the coalition at press@competitivenesscoalition.com.

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The Competitiveness Coalition is a first-of-its-kind group educating the public and advocating for policies that put consumers first while fostering innovation and attracting new investment.