#americaact — Public Fediverse posts

This is the principle at work in the US bipartisan #AMERICAAct, which would force Google and Meta to spin off the parts of their ad-tech business that put them in a conflict of interest. Right now, #Googbook represents both publishers *and* advertisers, while operating the marketplace where ad sales take place, and they take 51% out of every ad dollar:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/save-news-we-must-shatter-ad-tech

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Each week since, I've published a specific policy recommendation. The first one was breaking up the #AdTech industry, on the lines suggested by #SenatorMikeLee's #AMERICAAct:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/save-news-we-must-shatter-ad-tech

Next was passing comprehensive privacy law, which would kill off #SurveillanceAds and force a switch to "contextual ads" (ads based on what you're looking at, not who you are):

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/save-news-we-must-ban-surveillance-advertising

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The #AMERICAAct from #SenatorMikeLee would force ad giants to divest themselves of business units that create conflicts of interest. It's popular, bipartisan legislation - and I *do* mean bipartisan; its backers include #ElizabethWarren and #TedCruz! I wrote about the AMERICA Act and the role it will play in saving news from tech for @eff's Deeplinks Blog last week:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/save-news-we-must-shatter-ad-tech

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But enforcing those rules would be hard - merely *detecting* cheating would be hard. A simpler - and more effective - approach is to simply *remove* the conflict of interest.

Writing on @eff's Deeplinks blog this week, I explain how the #AMERICAAct - introduced by Senator #MikeLee, with bipartisan cosponsors from #ElizabethWarren to #TedCruz (!) - can do just that:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/save-news-we-must-shatter-ad-tech

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I. Break up ad-tech: Following the lead of Senator #MikeLee's #AMERICAAct, we must end the ad-tech sector's self-dealing. Ad-tech scoops up 51% of every ad-dollar. That's thanks to the ad-tech companies practice of offering marketplaces in which they represent both advertisers *and* publishers: that's like a game where the referee pays the salaries of the head coaches for *both* teams.

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