ACT Leads Coalition Opposition to California’s COMPETE Act (AB 1776)
WASHINGTON, DC – Statement from Morgan Reed, president, Association for Competitive Technology (ACT) on AB 1776, the COMPETE Act: “Small and medium-sized technology companies compete by moving quickly, pricing aggressively, bundling services, and building on the platforms and infrastructure that help them reach customers. While AB 1776 tries to protect competition and small business interests, in practice it would put ordinary small business growth strategies under a legal cloud by replacing predictable competition rules with a vague, California-specific liability framework [...]
CHATBOT Act Presents Beginnings of a Workable Protection Framework for Kids
By Empowering Parents and Narrowly Defining the Tools Covered WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today’s introduction of the CHATBOT Act by Senators Cruz, Schatz, Curtis, and Schiff represents a good faith effort to keep our kids safe when interacting with open-ended chatbots or AI companions. “The CHATBOT Act proposal is a workable start to addressing a critical issue of kids’ safety,” said Morgan Reed, president of the Association for Competitive Technology (ACT). “How many examples have we seen in the news [...]
Digital Markets Act Report is Missed Opportunity
Commission’s Review Focuses on Cosmetics Rather Than Substance BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - The Digital Markets Act (DMA) Review Report represents a missed opportunity to take stock of the DMA's broader impact on the EU digital economy. The Commission's report focuses on surface issues rather than conducting a thorough analysis of the impact, especially for startups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SME). Commenting on the review, Mike Sax, founder and chairperson of the Association for Competitive Technology (ACT) said: [...]
ACTivists for Change: Small Tech’s 2026 Policy Priorities
Right now, policymakers around the world are setting their 2026 agendas on the same core questions: how to protect consumers online, how to govern AI responsibly without stifling innovation, how to strengthen privacy and security, and how to drive economic growth. From Brussels to London to Washington, across the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) region, and through booming tech hubs in Latin America (LATAM), Africa, and the Middle East, the policy goals often align, even when compliance requirements do not. [...]
Policymakers Can Protect Children Without Breaking the Internet
Earlier this month, a legal clock ran out in Europe. On 3 April 2026, interpersonal communication services operating in the European Union lost key legal clarity that has, until now, allowed them to voluntarily detect, report, and remove child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The temporary derogation from the ePrivacy Directive, the legislation that gave services a clear legal basis to act, has expired. The measure was always intended as a stopgap, set to expire in April 2026, on the [...]
In an AI Driven World, Data Center Policy is Small Business Policy
As policymakers debate the future of data centers in the United States, the discussion often centers on the ambitions of the largest technology companies. That focus misses a basic point: Small businesses rely on reliable and affordable access to cloud and AI tools. Data center policy is not only about large firms building more infrastructure. As our recent letter to the House Science Committee explained, small businesses are often the leading users, developers, and deployers of AI-enabled services, and [...]