SBE Council Statement on the Reintroduction of the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICOA) in the U.S. Senate

By SBE Council at 11 June, 2026, 2:25 pm

NEWS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The following statement on the reintroduction of the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICOA) in the U.S. Senate may be attributed to Karen Kerrigan, President & CEO, of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (SBE Council):

"The reintroduction of the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICOA) is a disappointing step backward for U.S. innovation, competition, consumers, and small businesses. SBE Council has long opposed this legislation because it would undermine the affordable digital tools, integrated services, and online marketplaces that millions of entrepreneurs rely upon every day to start, operate, and grow their businesses. Despite years of debate and multiple failed attempts to advance this legislation, its fundamental flaws remain. In fact, the bill has gotten worse. Moreover, AICOA continues to mirror many of the same regulatory concepts embedded in Europe's Digital Markets Act (DMA), which has imposed significant costs, reduced consumer convenience, weakened digital services, and further hampered Europe's ability to compete in the global innovation economy."

"At a time when the Trump Administration is actively challenging the DMA and opposing copycat legislation around the world, Congress should not be importing Europe's failed regulatory model into the United States. AICOA would interfere with the ability of technology platforms to integrate products and services that consumers and small businesses value, ultimately raising costs and degrading user experiences. Popular offerings such as Amazon Prime, integrated logistics and fulfillment services, digital advertising tools, mapping and navigation services, cybersecurity protections, and other bundled innovations could face new restrictions and legal uncertainty. The result would be fewer choices, higher costs, and diminished functionality for the startups and small businesses that depend on these tools to compete with larger rivals both at home and abroad. U.S. innovation would take a severe hit."

"The political and policy momentum behind AICOA has clearly weakened. That's not surprising given the bill's incongruity to market dynamics and the extraordinary value consumers and small businesses are getting from digital tools and tech platforms. This latest version of AICOA has attracted the smallest list of original co-sponsors yet, despite repeated attempts by its sponsors to revise the legislation over the past several years. Rather than improving the bill, those changes have produced an even more problematic proposal while attracting less bipartisan support. Meanwhile, lawmakers in California recently rejected a state-level version of AICOA - the BASED Act - because of concerns that it was too extreme and would harm innovation and consumers. Congress should take note. American entrepreneurs, consumers, and workers are benefitting from a dynamic and highly competitive digital economy. Policymakers should focus on advancing policies that strengthen U.S. competitiveness and encourage more innovation, investment, and adoption. But let's not adopt Europe's regulatory mistakes and overall policy ineptness."

"AICOA is essentially the Digital Markets Act in the United States. Europe has run this experiment, and the results have been higher costs, reduced functionality, weak innovation and weaker competitiveness. Congress must focus on empowering entrepreneurs and strengthening America's innovation advantage."

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CONTACT: Karen Kerrigan, [email protected]

SBE Council is a nonpartisan advocacy, research and education organization dedicated to protecting small business and promoting entrepreneurship. For more than 30 years, SBE Council has advanced a range of private sector and public policy initiatives to strengthen the ecosystem for strong startup activity and small business growth.

Visit www.sbecouncil.org for additional information. X: @SBECouncil

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