Y Combinator, one of the world's most prolific startup accelerators, sent a letter on Wednesday urging the Trump administration to openly support the European Digital Markets Act (DMA).
DMA designates six high-tech companies as “gatekeepers” of the Internet (Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Beitedance, Meta, Microsoft), restricting Kingpins of these technologies from engaging in anti-competitive tactics on the platform and advocating interoperability. The law was applied in May 2023 and has already had a major impact on high-tech companies in the US.
In a letter to the White House posted to X by YC's Public Policy Director Luther Lowe, the startup accelerator argued that DMA should not focus on other European technical laws.
Instead, YC argues in his letter that the spirit of the European DMA is consistent with the value it promotes rather than the American innovation.
“[W]A letter from YC, signed by YC-backed startups, independent tech companies and trade associations, states:
It's not entirely surprising that YC comes out with the explicit general support of DMA. After all, Accelerator is sold as the champion of Little Tech, an ecosystem of tech startups backed by American ventures.
In a letter, YC argues that DMA opens key avenues to create opportunities for American startups with AI, search and consumer apps, preventing large tech companies from boxing small ventures.
Specifically, YC's pointing to Apple is reportedly delaying LLM-driven SIRI until 2027, years after competitors brought generative AI voice assistants to the market. YC argues that this represents a lack of competitive pressure and note that third-party developers of AI voice assistants cannot integrate the service into Apple's operating system
YC may take over Big Tech for reported anti-competitive behaviour and may take shots at companies like Apple. But VCs alongside YC and other probably small tech are actually very influential in Washington.
Andreessen Horowitz (A16Z), who released the Little Technology Agenda last year, has spent millions of dollars trying to influence policy wars at the federal and local levels. According to Open Secrets data, the A16Z's contributions during the 2024 US election cycle totaled $89 million. YC, still a small player in American politics, has donated about $2 million.
What's less clear here is how the Trump administration will respond to DMA in the long run, and YC's approval.
In January, President Trump signaled that he would protect American tech companies from enthusiastic European regulators. But Trump has also been historically tough for big tech companies such as Apple, Google and Meta.
At the Paris AI Action Summit in February, Vice President JD Vance criticized some of the EU's laws against high-tech companies, including the Digital Services Act and general data protection regulations. However, Vance does not mention DMA. DMA targets more narrowly high-tech industry practices, which are targeted more narrowly.
Lowe told TechCrunch last year at the StrictlyVC event that DMA was “not perfect, but at least inspired to come up with how to curb the worst forms of self-presentation by these big companies.”
Lowe did not immediately respond to TechCrunch's request for comment.