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The legislation’s central idea is that a company that controls a marketplace shouldn’t be able to set special rules for itself within that marketplace, because competitors who object don’t have any realistic place to go. No business can afford to be left out of Google’s search index, and few online retailers can make a living if they’re not listed on Amazon. So the Klobuchar-Grassley bill, broadly speaking, prohibits self-preferencing by platforms that hit certain size thresholds, like monthly active users or annual revenue. To take a simple example, it would mean Amazon can’t give its in-house branded products a leg up over other brands when someone is shopping on its site, and Google can’t choose to give YouTube links when someone does a video search unless those links are objectively the most relevant. //
If Google and the other tech giants are right that their dominance stems purely from the superiority of their products, then perhaps they shouldn’t be too worried about the Klobuchar-Grassley bill. After all, in an open competition, the best offering should win. Perhaps Big Tech really is the best at everything. This law would just make them prove it.