WASHINGTON, DC – Amid the breathless spending of millions in TV ads from Big Tech and their front groups, today, The Tech Oversight Project spotlighted recent media coverage on its own ad campaigns in AZ, GA, NH, NV, and DC. The Tech Oversight Project’s ads are currently the only ones running on TV making the case for passage of the American Innovation and Choice Online Act and the Open App Market Act and exposing Big Tech’s anticompetitive practices that raise costs on families and small businesses.
The Tech Oversight Project’s ads were recently featured in AdImpact’s analysis of internet regulation spending as well as The Washington Post. Key insights are below:
- Over the past year, we have seen 30 distinct anti-regulation creatives from these advertisers. Such massive saturation has led to an estimated 412M impressions across the country to date. The messaging for these ads is consistent across advertisers…
- Internet regulation spending skyrocketed when anti-regulation advertisers spent a combined $43.8M on a new ad campaign attacking S.2992. The explosion in spending was likely caused by a new draft of the bill being circulated by its sponsor Senator Amy Klobuchar on Sunday, May 22.
- The ad campaign began on May 26, 2022 and will run until at least July 11, 2022. The ad buy will hit nearly 40 states. In 18 of these states, spending has reached over $500K. The largest share of spending will occur in GA with $5.5M placed, followed closely by DC with $5M, then Nevada with $3.7M, and finally Arizona and Colorado with $3M each.
- Although anti-regulation spending accounts for a vast majority of the market, we have also seen some pro-internet regulation spending. The advertiser Tech Oversight Project responded to new anti-regulation trends by releasing a $174K ad buy beginning in June ($250k by the end of the month), targeting some of the states tech advertisers are attempting to garner support in with their new buy–such as GA, NV, AZ, and DC.
- The Tech Oversight Project messaging pushed back against what they saw as unsavory business practices among Facebook, Amazon, Google, and Apple. They also recently released a new advertisement directly supporting S.2992.
The latest ad, “Rein In,” reminds voters that behind the barrage of dark money TV ads are the same Big Tech companies like Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon who have abused their power for years. The additional spot, “Big Tech Taxes,” makes the case that some of Big Tech’s most predatory practices and fees are passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices and costs – The Big Tech Tax.
The Tech Oversight Project’s accompanying digital campaign will run in AZ, CO, DC, GA, NH, and NV. The campaign’s creative is designed to remind Senators that voters want them to support these bills and see them signed into law.