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Adam Kovacevich Profile picture
Adam Kovacevich
@adamkovac
Founder and CEO, @progresschamber. Democrat & technology optimist. Ex @googlepubpolicy @limebike. Pun & analogy fan.
Sep 26, 2023 • 24 tweets • 7 min read
Diving in now to FTC's antitrust suit against Amazon...

assets.bwbx.io/documents/user…
Image FTC: Amazon "has seized control over much of the online retail economy."

Bloomberg yesterday: Amazon has 37.6% of all online retail, 3.5% of all retail
Image
Image
Sep 25, 2023 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
FTC's long-awaited antitrust lawsuit against Amazon likely drops tomorrow.

I wrote here ⤵️ on what to expect. The case is mostly an attack on Amazon Prime. It should have 3 parts:

1. Breaking apart Amazon Prime's bundle
2. Attacking the link between Prime and Fulfillment by Amazon
3. Attacking A's "buy box" policies

medium.com/chamber-of-pro…
Jun 20, 2023 • 17 tweets • 8 min read
An incredible story about Lina Khan's allies on the far left ganging up to try to intimidate FTC Dem Commissioner @BedoyaFTC for raising mild concerns about Khan's approach ⤵️

A 🧵 on the background here...



1/ ⏰ Rewind to May 3.

@linakhanFTC uses the pretext of Facebook allegedly violating its FTC consent decree to issue a new demand: that FB no longer show ads to teens.

Bedoya votes with Khan, but says he's not sure FTC has the authority to do that:



2/
Feb 21, 2023 • 55 tweets • 8 min read
My colleague @jess_miers is in the courtroom for today's Gonzalez v Google oral arguments... ...and will be leading a post-args analysis call afterwards with fellow legal experts
Feb 17, 2023 • 18 tweets • 11 min read
When I started @ProgressChamber, I thought it was impt to disclose our funders. Most assns and nonprofits in the tech policy space do the same.

But I've been surprised that new tech critics groups like @accountabletech @Tech_Oversight, and @The_IAP don't disclose at all.

🧵: 1/ We're a 501c6 industry trade association funded by partner companies, who we've listed on our website from day one (progresschamber.org/partners/) 2/ Image
Feb 7, 2023 • 17 tweets • 4 min read
A thread on what to expect in tomorrow's "Twitter Files" hearing:

thehill.com/homenews/38460… 1/ First, even though the Republicans have now created a special subcommittee to criticize the "weaponization of the federal government", what they will be doing tomorrow exactly that: Using their political power to influence the speech decisions of Twitter, a private company. 2/
Feb 7, 2023 • 12 tweets • 5 min read
You gotta appreciate that hockey publication @DailyFaceoff is the one to break the news about @SecMartyWalsh leaving DOL.

What Walsh's departure means for gig work policy in particular...

🧵: Walsh made some initial wary comments about gig work, but to his credit quickly recognized that gig work is a critical lifeline for many -- and that gig workers themselves also struggled during the pandemic

Dec 14, 2022 • 12 tweets • 5 min read
The FTC's antitrust case against Meta/Within already faces long odds.

But per MLEX reporting, FTC expert witness @HalSinger faced a very skeptical judge yesterday regarding a questionable survey he commissioned of Supernatural users.

🧵.. 1/ ImageImageImage You may remember that the FTC contorted itself to define a "VR dedicated fitness app" market definition, arguing that Meta *would have* competed in vs. Within if not for this deal:
2/
Dec 14, 2022 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
We took big, important steps this year to strengthen US leadership in chips manufacturing.

Now let's do the same for artificially intelligent vehicles. Go 🇺🇸!

My latest op-ed, in the @PittsburghPG:

post-gazette.com/opinion/Op-Ed/… Although the the global market for autonomous vehicles is growing at an annual rate of 41%, the U.S. is dragging its feet in developing AVs, while China is ramping up production.
Dec 8, 2022 • 14 tweets • 5 min read
More good curtain-raising on today's start of the two-week FTC v. Meta/Within trial.

As @ashleyrgold reports, the trial is over the FTC's preliminary injunction req. If FTC loses, Meta could proceed to close the deal.

axios.com/newsletters/ax… As @dmccabe noted, the heart of the case is FTC's "potential future competition" theory
Nov 16, 2022 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
Tech policy discussions of kids, teens, and social media is rampant with lots of panics and out of touch pols having little clue how teens actually use tech.

Thankfully, @lrainie and the team at @pewinternet have an excellent new survey of teens:
pewresearch.org/internet/2022/… This got lost in the WSJ/Facebook Files stories of 2021, but *91%* of teens say social media has either a positive or neutral effect on them.

Only 9% say it has a negative impact on them.
Nov 14, 2022 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
Watching Epic v. Apple appeal oral arguments in Ninth Circuit

ca9.uscourts.gov/media/live-ora… Image Wrote a preview thread on this last week:
Jul 5, 2022 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
🚨 Tech Policy Red Alert: one of SC's just-dropped abortion ban bills would criminalize hosting abortion-related info online ⤵️
scstatehouse.gov/sess124_2021-2… According to @thestate, the chair of the relevant committee is planning on taking public testimony in mid-August, then move the bill post-Labor Day. Mark your 📅

thestate.com/news/politics-…
Jun 29, 2022 • 23 tweets • 7 min read
I missed this @ezraklein column from May about TikTok, but I increasingly share his view that US policymakers are under-reacting to the long-term propaganda and disinfo risks of continuing to allow a Chinese-owned TikTok to operate in the U.S.

🧵 :

nytimes.com/2022/05/08/opi… 1/ BuzzFeed's recent piece basically told us that even though the company is moving user data over to U.S.-based, Oracle-managed data centers, Chinese employees will continue to have backdoor access to that data.
2/
May 26, 2022 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Klobuchar pressuring Schumer to bring her tech antitrust bill to the floor is forcing vulnerable Dems to take a closer look at it.

And they're calling it a @amyklobuchar "pet project" that "could threaten their chances of holding their slim majority": A Senate aide: "“We should be focused on items that will help consumers deal with rising costs...Nobody can quite figure out why it would be a priority.”
May 26, 2022 • 15 tweets • 7 min read
Key takeaways from @SenAmyKlobuchar's revised AICOA tech antitrust bill:

▶️ Carves out telcos, banks, and credit cards
▶️ Removes TikTok from being included
▶️ Still bans Amazon Prime/Basics & content moderation
▶️ Lowers DOJ/FTC evidence standard

🧵:

klobuchar.senate.gov/public/_cache/… Democrats have been big champions of net neutrality. But Klobuchar sold out on NN likely in an effort to win R votes. She explicitly adds telcos as out of scope of the bill:
Jan 19, 2022 • 19 tweets • 8 min read
🚨🚨HOT OFF THE PRESSES: Before tmrw's Senate big tech antitrust markup, @SenAmyKlobuchar and @ChuckGrassley have a draft manager's amdt out.

Their changes both acknowledge the negative consumer impacts of the bill…AND don’t actually do anything meaningful to fix them. 🧵: 1. Klobuchar and Grassley made some procedural window-dressing tweaks to shore up a few SJC votes around the margins.

But the bill continues to do what it’s intended to:

Stop big tech companies from offering convenient products that are integrated, secure, and private.
Jan 19, 2022 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
So @SenAmyKlobuchar's spox said her bills S 2992 and S 2710 don't force Apple to allow unscreened, "sideloaded" apps on iOS ⤵️.

Let's take a closer look at the bills...

bloomberg.com/news/articles/… S 2992 / Section 2b1:

Mandates that "business users" (competing app stores or sideloaded apps) be allowed to interoperate with the same platform (iOS) -- even if they compete with the underlying service (Apple App Store)
Jan 18, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Why are Democrats taking aim at the ad-supported model that helps fund small newspapers, content creators, and diverse voices online?

My fellow Dems should support expanding access to information, not putting it behind paywalls and Substacks. Under this bill:
➡️ HBCUs couldn’t advertise to prospective students
➡️ Realtors couldn't advertise to first time homebuyers
➡️ Startups couldn’t market their products online to prospective customers
Jun 17, 2021 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
Millions of people use iMessage and FaceTime. Yet @davidcicilline, the author of the biggest ever proposed legislative overhaul to these products, spent the last few hours flip-flopping on what his legislation would mean for iPhone users (🧵): At 1:33pm ET today, Bloomberg posted an interview with Rep. David Cicilline headlined, “Apple Pre-Installed Apps Would Be Banned Under Antitrust Package.”
Jun 16, 2021 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
One aspect of @davidcicilline's tech bill that's been overlooked is the way that its "nondiscrimination" language would gut content moderation.

In other words, the bill could *increase* hate, hoaxes, conspiracies and disinfo online.

See @mmasnick's explanation ⤵️ @davidcicilline @mmasnick This is because the bill expressly prohibits Google, AWS, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Linkedin from "discriminat[ing] against similarly situated business users."