As CEO of Digital Content Next (DCN), I testified on April 1, 2025, to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust on behalf of our members—leaders in trusted journalism and premium entertainment. My testimony addressed the persistent anticompetitive behavior of dominant tech platforms, particularly in the digital advertising market. While our members come from diverse media backgrounds, they all rely on fair access to the open internet to create, distribute, and monetize original content. Yet today’s digital ad marketplace lacks basic rules, allowing tech giants to operate without accountability—fueling opaque practices, data arbitrage, and conflicts of interest that harm publishers and consumers alike.

Since my testimony, Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled that Google abused its monopoly in ad tech, with remedies now under consideration—including potentially breaking up parts of its ad business. Meta also faces an ongoing antitrust suit from the FTC. While these cases are encouraging, legislative action is essential to prevent further harm.

That’s why DCN strongly supports the bipartisan AMERICA Act, introduced by Senator Lee. The bill sets clear, common-sense rules to restore transparency, promote competition, and curb platform abuses. This will ensure a fairer digital marketplace for content creators and the public.

Key points from Jason Kint’s testimony:

Surveillance Advertising Dominance

Google and Meta built their advertising empires by embedding surveillance across the open web, exploiting content and user data without consent or fair compensation.

Market Distortion and Publisher Harm

The current ad tech system strips value from professionally created content, impairs subscription growth, and erodes trust by favoring opaque, engagement-driven algorithms.

AI Repeating the Pattern

Generative AI models are being trained on copyrighted works without permission, threatening to displace original content and replicate past harms.

Call for Policy Action

DCN supports the AMERICA Act’s measures to rein in conflicts of interest in ad tech, alongside broader calls for privacy legislation and copyright protections in the AI era.

Preserving Democratic Institutions

Without reform, unchecked platform power will continue to undermine the premium news and entertainment that consumers love.