The Augmenting Compatibility and Competition by Enabling Service Switching (ACCESS) Act would encourage market-based competition between major social media platforms.
By requiring the largest social media companies to make user data portable and services interoperable with other platforms, the legislation would also allow users to designate a trusted third-party service to manage their privacy and account settings.
U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner of Virginia, Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Josh Hawley of Missouri and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut reintroduced the legislation yesterday.
“As social media and online platforms continue to become a larger part of our society, we’ve seen a handful of companies completely dominate the marketplace, giving consumers no real option to shift platforms without losing years’ worth of data and interactions. By making it easier for social media users to easily move their data or to continue to communicate with their friends after switching platforms, startups will be able to compete on equal terms with the biggest social media companies. Interoperability and portability are powerful tools to promote innovative new companies and limit anti-competitive behaviors. This legislation will create long-overdue requirements that will boost competition and give consumers more power,” Warner said.
Online platforms have become vital to American economic and social fabric, but network effects and consumer lock-in have solidified a select number of companies’ dominance in the digital market and enhanced their control over consumer data, even as the social media landscape continues to change by the day and platforms’ user experiences become more and more unpredictable.
The ACCESS Act would increase market competition, encourage innovation and increase consumer choice by requiring large communications platforms (products or services with more than 100 million monthly active users in the U.S.) to:
- Make their services interoperable with competing communications platforms.
- Permit users to easily port their personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format.
- Allow users to delegate trusted custodial services, which are required to act in a user’s best interests through a strong duty of care, with the task of managing their account settings, content, and online interactions.
Warner first introduced the ACCESS Act in 2019 and, as a former tech entrepreneur, has been one of Congress’s leading voices calling for accountability in Big Tech. He has introduced several pieces of legislation aimed at addressing issues, including the SAFE TECH Act, which would reform Section 230 and allow social media companies to be held accountable for enabling cyber-stalking, online harassment and discrimination on social media platforms; the Honest Ads Act, which would require online political advertisements to adhere to the same disclaimer requirements as TV, radio and print ads; and legislation requiring that the prominent social media platform TikTok divest from China-owned parent company ByteDance. Warner continues to advocate for the sale of the app to a company not beholden to a U.S. adversary.
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Rebecca Barnabi
