OPINION:
Our former congressional colleagues recently held another round of hearings regarding the notion of reigning in “Big Tech.” But often lost in the debate in Washington is the sector’s critical impact in smaller towns and suburban cities. Small towns and suburbs that range from Fargo’s burgeoning tech ecosystem to Buckhead’s “Tech Village,” which we were honored to represent in the United States Senate — and whose interests we are hopeful policymakers will protect as they consider any new technology regulation.
For context, domestic tech innovators serve as economic anchors for sweeping swaths of the United States that go well beyond the borders of Silicon Valley — a fact made manifest in the BEA’s assessment that the digital economy accounted for a full 6.9% of U.S. GDP, or $1.3 trillion, in 2017 alone. The common misconception those tech companies are confined to large coastal areas fails to reflect the explosive growth of regional tech hubs in all 50 states.
Pound for pound, Georgia and North Dakota feature some of the most impressive tech sectors in America — and have rightfully been recognized as two of the top 10 states for startup success. NewsDakota notes that “businesses across the Dakotas have started to flourish in the new digital investment playground,” while TechCrunch writes that the “Southeastern region, led by Atlanta, has gone from being ‘one of the best-kept secrets in tech to a vibrant ecosystem teeming with a herd of the billion-dollar tech businesses.’” Fargo, for instance — dubbed “America’s Most Undervalued Tech Hub” by Fortune magazine — has long been home to one of Microsoft’s largest campuses. And Atlanta’s 1,400 or so tech companies put the city on par with peers like Austin, New York and San Francisco, according to Built In.
But beyond serving as a standalone economic engine for predominately rural states like ours, domestic tech innovators also work to complement — and in many instances, ensure the survival of — small and medium-sized enterprises of numerous industries. During the most daunting depths of the COVID-19 pandemic, social media, e-commerce and teleconferencing platforms allowed these businesses to keep their doors open. Indeed, as a new Biz2Credit study confirms, small businesses with the strongest pandemic recoveries “had one key factor in common … the degree to which companies embraced technology or were already digitally savvy.”
And so, while digital tools were certainly helpful assets before the pandemic — a 2018 U.S. Chamber of Commerce study on the subject found that 75% of small enterprises used tech platforms for sales — social distancing and public health protocols promptly underscored how they also serve as lifelines. It didn’t take more than a couple of months into the crisis for nearly a third of small businesses in the United States to report that “without digital technology, they would have been forced to close all or part of their businesses.”
Harmful proposals to break up tech companies that facilitate the exchange of goods and services, therefore, could derail our country’s economic recovery — and, as we’ve previously detailed, hasten China’s hope of dominating the digital landscape. Per former National Security Council member Michael Allen, “under the proposed legislative package, Chinese and Russian technology giants would remain unscathed — in fact, they would directly benefit from greater access to U.S. technology as well as the data of U.S. citizens and businesses.” Handing Beijing a permanent advantage would amount to the wrong approach at the worst time.
Accordingly, on the heels of an additional series of hearings, lawmakers ought to now listen to the American people on a matter of paramount importance to our economic recovery. More specifically, in addition to regarding the regulation of U.S. tech companies as a relatively low priority, voters in 32 congressional frontline districts rightfully conclude that breaking up tech companies will make America less economically competitive (83%).
We agree — and given the gravity of what’s at stake, believe it behooves our former colleagues to craft smart policies that sustain, rather than erode, America’s tech edge.
The worthwhile pursuit of updating the rules of the internet with critical reforms like federal privacy legislation, transparency in content moderation and election integrity need not undermine the scores of small cities and small businesses that rely on America’s tech innovators.
• Former U.S. Sens. Saxby Chambliss, Georgia Republican, and Kent Conrad, North Dakota Democrat, are co-chairs of the American Edge Project’s Economic Advisory Board.
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