Washington, D.C. (02/15/2022) – U.S. national security experts agree, the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (S. 2992) will weaken U.S. national security and embolden American adversaries.
“Twelve national security experts on both sides of the aisle agree that antitrust bills like the AICOA will have detrimental impacts on U.S. national security and how the U.S. military can respond to risks from our biggest adversaries. Congress should listen to the multitude of experienced and formidable experts in the field and fix these problems with the bill to prevent weakening the United States on the global stage,” Chandler Smith Costello, a spokeswoman for the Don’t Break What Works Campaign.
Here are five reasons why the AIOCA will harm U.S. national security.
1. AICOA would require America’s leading tech companies to share data with foreign competitors, provide access to U.S. infrastructure and force U.S. digital services to share sensitive or protected user data with foreign competitors.
2. AICOA targets American companies but leaves Chinese competitors such as Alibaba, Baidu and Huawei unscathed, allowing them to continue growing without competition from American firms, and granting them increased market share and access to sensitive U.S. data.
3. AICOA would require U.S. tech leaders to provide their foreign competitors with access to U.S. infrastructure, and force U.S. companies to share sensitive or protected user data with foreign competitors.
4. AICOA would diminish critical American technology firm research and development priorities and allow foreign adversaries, like China and Russia, to lead tech innovation and give sensitive IP information to Beijing and Moscow.
5. China plans to surpass the West in technological innovation by 2025 through heavy subsidization and protection of its technology industry. Instead of doing the same, Congress is trying to pass AICOA, which will hamstring American innovators vying for technological superiority and development in quantum computing and artificial intelligence.
Background
Fact: Several members of the Senate Judiciary Committee have already detailed concerns about risks the bill poses for national security, cybersecurity and data protection. (Read more here, here, here, here, and here.)
Fact: Twelve former national security officials, including former directors of the CIA and a former Director of National Intelligence, recently sounded the alarm around the national security implications of proposals like S. 2992. (Read more here.)
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