Industry standards, such as USB and AA batteries, are really good for consumers and smaller companies. It allows user not to have to worry about whether or not their mouse is compatible with their computer or whether their flashlight will work with the right batteries. However, many companies refuse to adopt some standards (i.e. iPhones with USB-C) and some industries would benefit from standards that are easily possible with current technology without increasing costs.
I purpose that Congress should create an agency under the FTC in charge of creating industry standards when they are reasonable, don’t raise costs for companies, and are possible to implement with current technology (no need to create more waste). Congress, of course, should tighten how much power this agency has and obviously Congress has the ultimate say over whether or not some industry standards are too much of a burden for companies or are simply not favored by the public.
Example 1
Social media companies could have a standard for posts, allowing them to be integrated with other social media platforms, reducing the problem of small user size for newer and competing platforms, and adding for flexibility for companies to try out different interfaces without much worry. This, of course, would not be favored by large corporations, such as Meta and Google, who hold a strangle hold on the industry with Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. However, this change would allow Facebook posts to be viewable natively on other platforms and YouTube videos to be natively played on other video websites.
Example 2
Apple is infamous for requiring Thunderbolt cables, a Apple proprietary cable, for many of their devices, notably their iPhone. This has caused consumers to be required to pay for overpriced cables so that their iPhone can properly charge and transfer data through a cable. The European Union has a great start in regulating this bad business practice for consumers, but the United States has yet to do anything about it. With this new agency, Apple would be required not only to have USB ports on their iPhones instead of Thunderbolt, but also treat them the same regardless of third-party cable when possible.