AMERICA Act
Sponsored By: Senator Mike Lee
Introduced
Summary
Reduce the market power of dominant digital-ad middlemen. The bill would add a new digital-ad regime to the Clayton Act that defines key players, limits certain ownership ties based on market scale, and creates duties for transparency, data access, and recordkeeping to protect competition.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 3 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.
New enforcement and big damages
If enacted, this bill would let brokerage customers and businesses sue very large ad firms for covered violations. A harmed customer could recover the greater of $1,000,000 for each month a knowing violation happened or actual damages. The $1,000,000-per-month rule applies only to defendants with more than $20 billion in digital ad revenue last year (threshold adjusted by CPI). The Attorney General and state attorneys general could also sue and seek injunctions. Money the Attorney General gets from awards would go into a new Antitrust Consumer Damages Fund, and unused award money would be sent to the Treasury after 10 years.
New duties and transparency for ad brokerages
If enacted, very large digital-ad firms (over $5 billion revenue last year) would face new duties and disclosure rules. Covered firms would owe a best-interest duty and a best-execution duty to brokerage customers. Customer bid data and records would remain the customer's property unless publicly available. Firms would have to keep business clocks within 2 milliseconds of the NIST atomic clock. Large brokerages would have to provide verification data on request, post quarterly routing reports (monthly breakdown) on a free website for three years, and keep ordinary records for up to 90 days (billing records for at least 12 months). These rules and annual certification to the Attorney General would start one year after enactment.
Limits on big ad firms' ownership
If enacted, companies with more than $20 billion in digital ad revenue last year would be barred from certain ownership mixes. For example, such a company could not own an exchange if it also owned a buy- or sell-side brokerage or sold ad space. The $20 billion threshold would be adjusted by CPI each January 1. The bill allows selling your own inventory in ordinary ways and buying inventory to market your own products, with limits on resales. If a divestiture is required, the divestiture deal must be filed quickly and the Attorney General must act on approvals under set 60-day review timelines; the divestiture must be finished by the divestiture deadline. These ownership limits would start one year after enactment, while some sale exceptions apply upon enactment.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Mike Lee
UT • R
Cosponsors
Elizabeth Warren
MA • D
Sponsored 3/13/2025
Peter Welch
VT • D
Sponsored 3/13/2025
Cory Booker
NJ • D
Sponsored 3/13/2025
Ted Cruz
TX • R
Sponsored 3/31/2025
Richard Durbin
IL • D
Sponsored 4/4/2025
Amy Klobuchar
MN • D
Sponsored 3/13/2025
Eric Schmitt
MO • R
Sponsored 3/13/2025
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
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