SACRAMENTO –  Monday evening, the Senate Privacy, Digital Technologies & Consumer Protection Committee failed to advance Senator Scott Wiener’s SB 1074, the BASED (Blocking Anticompetitive Self-Preferencing by Entrenched Dominant Platforms) Act. The legislation would have banned self-preferencing, an anticompetitive practice the largest digital platforms use to unfairly favor their products and services over those of competitors. Self-preferencing stifles competition, raises prices for consumers, and further concentrates the dominance of Big Tech giants. Teri Olle, VP of Economic Security California Action, issued the following statement last night in response to the hearing:

“David lost this round to Goliath. When the Senate Privacy Committee failed tonight to advance SB 1074, it also failed the next generation of California’s innovators working to advance their ideas in a free marketplace, and the consumers who suffer higher prices and fewer choices when Big Tech freezes out the competition. 

When we talk about the affordability crisis, it is important to recognize the invisible and often unavoidable costs embedded in the products we buy: when Californians pay a surcharge because Amazon has restricted merchants from selling products below the Amazon price; when they unwittingly overpay for an airline ticket because Google search results fed you the (pricier) flights that Google wants you to see; when you end up paying more for an app on the Apple app store because competitors pay a 30% tax Apple’s own products don’t pay. These added costs are not just rewards for better products or services; they’re what happens when Big Tech owns the field and rigs the game. 

So we will continue to suit up and come back to the halls of Sacramento to take on the monopoly power in our economy. We thank Senator Wiener and our co-sponsor Y Combinator for their leadership and commitment to this issue.”