Mar 2, 2021
In OPPOSITION HB 229, “To amend Part 2 of Article 15 of Chapter 1 of Title 10 of the Official Code of Georgia 2 Annotated, relating to the “Fair Business Practices Act of 1975”
Chairman and members of the Judiciary Committee,
Our names are Wayne Brough and Marc Hyden, and we are with the R Street Institute, which is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, public policy research organization. Our mission is to engage in policy research and outreach to promote free markets and limited, effective government in many areas, including the technology and innovation sector. That is why HB 229 is of special interest to us.
We are concerned that HB 229 has the potential to fundamentally reshape the market for applications downloaded to smartphones and other devices in ways that will harm both consumers and app developers. More specifically, HB 229 states that a digital application distribution platform cannot “require a developer to use an in-application payment system as the exclusive mode of accepting payment from a user to download a software application or purchase a digital or physical product through a software application,” among other things.[1] [1]