Apple-backed think tanks urge lawmakers not to vote for antitrust bills

A group of nonprofit organizations, including some connected to Apple, have sent a letter to the House Judiciary Committee urging them to reject a slate of recently released antitrust bills.

The letter is signed by various think tanks, political advocacy groups, and nonprofit organizations. They include groups sponsored by Apple, such as TechNet, the Consumer Technology Alliance, and the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.

"At a time when voters are looking to Congress to address the country's most pressing challenges, it seems hard to believe that Congress is instead on the verge of banning Amazon Prime and Amazon Basics; banning the preinstallation of iMessage and FaceTime on iPhones; and banning Google from including Google Maps in its search results," the letter reads.

Earlier in June, U.S. House lawmakers introduced five sweeping bills intended to rein in the power of Silicon Valley technology giants. The bills include legislation that could place restrictions on the preinstallation of apps on devices and the acquisition of smaller companies by technology juggernauts.

The letter, which was sent on Monday, suggests that the bills could ban Google from displaying YouTube videos in search results and block Apple from preinstalling the "Find My" on iPhone devices.

"We believe that voters want Congress to fix things that are broken — not break or ban things that they feel are working well," the companies wrote. "We strongly encourage you to reject these proposals."

The U.S. House Judiciary Committee will soon review and mark up the antitrust bills. The legislation was introduced after a 16-month investigation into the power of Silicon Valley companies, which reached the conclusion that Big Tech is monopolistic.

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