Mozilla Champions the Reintroduction of the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICOA)
Today, only a handful of tech companies shape the online experience for the more than 300 million internet users in America. This concentration of power is exactly why we need legislation that advances competition and user choice. It’s all the more urgent as AI transforms not just the tools that people use, but also magnifies the competitive inequities underlying the web itself.
The American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICOA) is bipartisan legislation designed to curb harmful gatekeeper behaviors of the biggest tech platforms. The bill does so by prohibiting dominant platforms from unfairly preferencing their own products, discriminating against tech competitors, and preventing interoperability — all practices that stop the best product winning and stifle consumer control. The goal is straightforward: companies should compete based on the quality of their products, not by leveraging anticompetitive tactics.
As the builder and operator of the Firefox browser and the browser engine Gecko, Mozilla has firsthand experience with the impact of the exclusionary practices AICOA seeks to prevent. For example, deceptive design tactics deployed by operating systems make it difficult for people to install and keep Firefox as their preferred browser. Browsers are the portal through which people access the open web, and users should define that interaction. AICOA would help limit the ability of operating systems to steer users toward affiliated products through deceptive design choices. Ensuring meaningful user choice online is not just about variety; it reflects values and individual preferences. Openness and innovation thrives when the web is built around platforms that serve people, not the other way round.
Browser engines, while lesser-known, are among the most complex and consequential pieces of infrastructure on the modern internet, impacting user-focused innovations in privacy, security, speed, and more. Gecko is one of only three widely used engines and the only independent browser engine. The importance of that competitive counterweight cannot be underestimated. When platform owners favor their own vertically integrated products, independent challengers face barriers that have nothing to do with product quality and everything to do with a monopolized market.
It’s important to recognize that antitrust reform can make the internet more private and secure than it is today, as we’ve consistently emphasized. For example, in 2021, Firefox was at the forefront of developing technology against cross-site tracking, but could not release the technology to Firefox users on iOS because of app store rules preferring Apple’s own browser engine, blocking alternatives like Gecko.
We’re champions of AICOA and look forward to working with members of Congress to push this legislation forward and tackle longstanding anticompetitive practices. Mozilla thanks Senators Grassley and Klobuchar for their leadership in advancing competition. A thriving tech ecosystem requires an open, fair, and competitive market where innovative services can compete on merit and people can control their own experiences online.