Ken Buck and House Dems Set to Widen Digital Divide Through Antitrust

This was originally published in Tech, Telecom, & Taxpayers on June 16th, 2021

Last week, I wrote about how the bipartisan package of antitrust reforms released by members of the House Judiciary Committee are decidedly anti-consumer. The leading Republican on these bills Rep. Ken Buck (R-Co.), along with some of his allies, accused folks like me of “lying” about the actual impact these bills would have in ways that are tangible to the average consumer. Well, turns out we critics were right because the leading Democrat in the effort, Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline (D-R.I.) just confirmed that one reform in the broader package would indeed prevent companies like Apple from preloading applications onto devices they sell like smartphones.

It’s hard to imagine who is actually asking for this, besides companies that develop applications that compete with default applications. Opening up a new phone or other web-connected device that does almost nothing until you peruse the application store ranges from a major inconvenience for consumers to a complete barrier to usability for the many, many less-than-tech-savvy Americans among us, especially older Americans.

This raises an obvious question: Wouldn’t such a reform dramatically widen the “digital divide”?

The digital divide refers to the lingering gap between Americans utilizing broadband internet connections and those who are not. A lot of this problem is due to the fact that too many Americans lack access to broadband service where they live, such as rural and impoverished communities. However, research has shown that a significant problem contributing to the digital divide is the lack of adoption of broadband services even when service is available in the area. It’s the old “lead a horse to water” problem. Many Americans either cannot afford or do not see the value in utilizing broadband service and no one denies that this continues to aggravate the problem of the digital divide.

There is a bipartisan consensus that the digital divide is a problem worthy of public policy interventions. The question is why a bipartisan coalition in the House is now actively working to make solving this problem even harder. Utilizing broadband service requires devices like smartphones and computers. Adding a layer at the device level to broadband adoption by requiring users, many of whom are already skeptical of the utility of such service, to go through the process of selecting which apps they like the most is the definition of two steps backward.

Further, there’s the question of additional cost. Without the ability to self-preference products and services like pre-loaded applications, consumers may be forced to spend more to get functional device applications from third-party developers. This presents a major concern when cost is already such a friction point for broadband adoption.

This all goes without mentioning the obvious security concerns and other associated consumer welfare issues. By forcing devices to become more open ecosystems, consumers will inherently be at a greater risk of loading malware or just plain bad applications to their devices. Instead of starting out with programs they know will work, consumers without any kind of tech experience to speak of will be unleashed into a market of virtually unlimited applications and the endless problem of information asymmetry. It’s the equivalent of selling someone the chassis of a car and asking them to pick the right suspension, spark plugs, and airbags. What could go wrong?

Congress has spent billions and is gearing up to spend billions more to address the issue of the digital divide. But in the classic case of the left hand not having a clue what the right hand is doing, Ken Buck, David Cicilline, and their colleagues on the House Judiciary Committee stand poised to widen the digital divide, even in places where it had previously closed.

Patrick Hedger is the Vice President of Policy at Taxpayers Protection Alliance