States Have Been Busy With Big Tech Regulations. Here’s the Rundown.

Lately, states have been busier than Taylor Swift when it comes to Big Tech regulations. Let’s get you up to speed...

State your case

Maryland: On Friday, the Crab Cake State became the first to introduce a digital advertising tax. The legislation is aimed at companies that bring in $100+ million a year from digital ads. FYI, Google’s ad revenue last year was $147 billion, with a B.

Virginia: California has finally passed the torch, and Virginia is set to become the second state to pass a data privacy law. Starting Jan. 1, 2023, the Consumer Data Protection Act would target larger companies—for example, those that control or process data for at least 100k Virginia residents.

North Dakota: Yesterday, North Dakota voted on a bill that could’ve changed app stores forever. It didn’t pass, but it did lay the groundwork for legislation that would prevent Apple and Google from mandating that companies in a state forfeit part of their app sales.

And that’s not all: New York is mulling a bill that could make it easier to levy antitrust cases against Big Tech, and Florida proposed legislation this month that would limit social media content moderation.

Call the Feds

More and more states are proposing legislation that would cramp Big Tech’s style. It’s expensive, time-consuming, and complicated to juggle patchwork state laws—even for a tech monolith.

Accordingly... For all the sector’s fighting against federal regulation, it looks like FAMGA would prefer one big thorn in its side to 50 smaller ones.

• In 2019, Mark Zuckerberg said he backed federal privacy legislation, and CEOs from 50+ companies, including IBM, Qualcomm, and Salesforce, asked Congress to pass a federal privacy law.
• Tech giants don’t support antitrust regs, but they do spend tens of millions a year on lobbying and efforts to draft legislation on their own terms.

Zoom in: You can think of this as trickle-down tech law. The restrictions, punishments, and fees are largely aimed at tech giants, but the laws will lead to effects for emerging tech startups, too. That could look like more room for innovation and competition. It could also mean fewer high-profile acquisitions (and fewer Big Tech-funded incubators).