Congresswoman Tenney Joins Discharge Petition to Hold Big Tech Companies Accountable

Washington, DC – Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (NY-22), member of the House Big Tech Censorship and Data Task Force, today signed Congressman Ken Buck’s discharge petition to force a vote on the State Antitrust Enforcement Venue Act, an important step to holding Big Tech companies accountable by giving states more power in the litigation of antitrust cases and ensuring that Big Tech does not have the power to push cases to venues of their choice. Tenney joins more than 70 of her colleagues in supporting the discharge petition.

“Big Tech giants like Facebook and Twitter dominate the digital public square and they continue to use their outsized influence to strangle competition and silence diverse viewpoints. State attorneys general play a critical role in enforcing antitrust laws to combat the digital monopolists and the online speech cartel,” said Congresswoman Tenney. “The State Antitrust Enforcement Venue Act will ensure states have an appropriate role in antitrust litigation and prevent Big Tech companies from tilting the playing field by unfairly moving cases to their home court in Northern California.”

The State Antitrust Enforcement Venue Act simply extends an exemption granted to federal antitrust actions to those brought by states. Specifically, exempt antitrust actions brought by states from the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation’s processes regarding transfers and consolidations of cases. Under current law, these cases filed by states under different federal courts may be transferred to a single court for coordinated or consolidated trial proceedings.

The bipartisan bill passed out of the House Judiciary Committee by a 34-7 vote in June 2021. This year, it was supported in a letter by 48 state attorneys general, including 24 Republicans and 24 Democrats.

The full text of the bill can be found here.

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