Grassroots antitrust coalition launches #AntitrustVoteNow push calling on Schumer to schedule a vote on AICOA and OAMA

The growing grassroots coalition behind #AntitrustDay and #AntitrustSummer have launched a new effort keeping the spotlight on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who will soon make a legacy-defining decision on whether to deliver on his promise to schedule a vote on Big Tech antitrust bills AICOA (S. 2992 and OAMA (S. 2710).

See the updated campaign page at AntitrustVoteNow.com

The updated page includes a timer ticking off the hours, minutes, and seconds it has been since Senator Schumer promised to schedule a vote on the bipartisan bills, and a new open effort directly calling on the Senate Majority leader to schedule the vote.

Supporters of the antitrust effort include smaller and medium sized tech companies like DuckDuckGo, Yelp and ProtonMail, alongside dozens of human rights and civil society groups, startup incubators, unions, and small business associations including the Teamsters, Y Combinator, Small Business Rising, MoveOn, Demand Progress, Consumer Reports, and the Tor Project.

“It’s been months since Senator Schumer promised a vote on this crucial legislation to crack down on Big Tech monopolies abusive business practices. The next few weeks will be a defining moment for Democratic leadership,” said Evan Greer (she/her), director of Fight for the Future, “If Senator Schumer has the courage to deliver on his promise, these bills will pass easily, with strong bipartisan support, either in the days before the election or in the lame duck. If that doesn’t happen, everyone will know it will be because Senate Democratic leadership took the cowardly path of appeasing Big Tech donors and lobbyists instead of enacting the will of the people.” 

Greer posted a Twitter thread about the current state of play here: https://twitter.com/evan_greer/status/1570852775730487297 

Fight for the Future, who built the campaign page, has employed a range of creative tactics to keep the spotlight on Senator Schumer’s failure to advance the antitrust bills, combating Big Tech’s spending blitz with a billboard truck playing the John Oliver segment about the bills outside Schumer’s residences, and flying a plane over crowded New York beaches on Labor Day with a banner reading “SCHUMER: HELP NY WORKERS, NOT BIG TECH.” Several civil society groups have called on Senator Schumer to recuse himself from decisions about the vote, given his close family ties to Amazon and Meta.