Big Tech has been sponsoring the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) annual weeklong event, according to a Monday letter from advocacy groups demanding that administration end the partnerships in 2024.
Amazon, Google and Meta have partnered with the SBA’s National Small Business Week (NSBW) each year under President Joe Biden’s presidency, according to The Washington Post. The groups claimed in the letter, which was spearheaded by watchdog Revolving Door Project, that the partnerships counter the Biden administration’s endeavors to take on these tech giants. (RELATED: White House Announces Artificial Intelligence Vows From Big Tech … But Experts Are Unimpressed)
“We write to you to express concern about the [SBA’s] partnerships with monopolistic corporations in 2023, including Amazon, Google, Meta, and Visa during National Small Business Week, and to urge the SBA not to partner with these corporations or other monopolists again in the future,” the letter states. “We believe the SBA’s decision to seek out sponsorships from these monopolists runs directly contrary to President Biden’s Executive Order On Promoting Competition.”
Amazon bullies third party sellers. Google monopolizes digital advertising. Meta buys up competitors.
For $150,000 — pocket change for billion dollar companies — the very same practices that hurt competition and small businesses are cosigned by the Small Business Administration.
— Revolving Door Project (@revolvingdoorDC) December 5, 2023
The sponsorships cost between $10,00 and $150,000 and have yielded huge benefits for the partner companies, which gained $130 million worth of advertising from January 2023, according to a 2024 sponsorship guide referenced in the letter.
“In partnering with these corporations, we believe the SBA is lending unwarranted legitimacy to these corporations and undermining the work of other agencies confronting anti-competitive practices that harm small businesses,” the letter reads. “We do not believe it to be the purpose of the government, especially the SBA, to aid mega-corporations in public relations campaigns that obfuscate the true nature of their relationships to small businesses.”
The Biden administration’s Department of Justice is currently engaged in a lawsuit against Google, and its Federal Trade Commission took Meta to court in January 2022 and sued Amazon in September, all regarding alleged antitrust breaches related to industry monopolies.
Amazon, Google, Meta, Revolving Door Project, the SBA and the White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.