Dems vs. Big Tech
Illustration by Preston Kelly
On Monday, House Democrats launched a probe into Facebook, Google, Amazon, and other tech giants in Silicon Valley. The probe is meant to investigate whether these massive corporations are monopolies—the only competitor in their industries.
What’s surprising is that the very same party that Google, Twitter, and Facebook protect and promote—the Democratic party—is leading the charge against them. While it may be very satisfying news for conservatives, a few questions must be asked: Is antitrust litigation appropriate for these companies? Are these companies unfairly advantaged and using their power to discriminate against certain groups? (Some would say yes, in the wake of #VoxAdpocalypse and Steven Crowder’s demonetization on Youtube.)
The skeptic in me also asks, Is this a show trial for the public, going into 2020 elections? (It seems as though it might be, to Senator Elizabeth Warren.) The naive part of me that hopes for the best in humanity asks, Have moderate Democrats seen the light in recognizing the bias of these social media giants?
As a member of the small-government Right, I’m torn. On the one hand, conservatives must be secretly glad that these left-leaning social gatekeepers are being uncovered for their numerous “sins.” On the other, conservatives should be concerned with government overreach and preserving a free market.
If we’re being honest, some conservatives would most likely delight in seeing power stripped and regulation unfairly imposed upon these companies, merely for the sake of partisan revenge. Less cynical moderates might simply appreciate the stifling of businesses that clearly operate with a discriminatory and ideological agenda. Deeper still though, some purist, free-market conservatives will argue that private businesses should not be regulated out of the ability to legally discriminate. The free market, they say, will correct the problem on its own.
It’s well known that Facebook, [Google’s] Youtube, and Twitter are partisan actors, but something else we should think about is whether they are true monopolies in their respective industries. We see that there are no true competitors to Google as a whole, because of their prolific diversification into areas beyond search engines (maps, shopping, cell phones and carriers, and products like Glass and formerly SketchUp). However, there are, of course, competitors in each of the fields that Google has its hands in.
What about Twitter? There are other social media platforms; Facebook and Instagram (owned by Facebook) being some of them. They both occupy a share of the social media market. And Amazon? While no online retailer does a better job than Amazon, strong competitors like Walmart still exist in the retail space; online as well. Surely these aren’t true monopolies.
A monopoly, after all, has the effect of hurting the consumer, generally by gouging prices. What consumer has been hurt by the incredibly vast array of affordable products delivered overnight by Amazon, or the infinite wealth of resources available at our fingertips via Google Search?—company politics notwithstanding. Ask any customer—there’s no gouging of prices by these companies.
What about when Microsoft was accused of monopolization in the late 1990s? Microsoft was found guilty and a concerning precedent was set in the Supreme Court when the ruling came down that it had acted as a monopoly and taken steps to quash competitors. However, as Microsoft-defender Independent Institute stated in its 1999 open letter in the Times and WaPo,
“Consumers of high technology have enjoyed falling prices, expanding outputs, and a breathtaking array of new products and innovations.”
Affordable prices like these don’t exist under a monopoly, and undercutting competitors is in the very nature of any business. So what are the concerns plaguing democratic legislators?
Until recently, social media platforms stayed at-arms-length from the content they hosted. Now, however, they are increasingly playing the part of publishers by curating content, results, dialogue, and exposure, instead of remaining laissez-faire platforms. But Democrats aren’t satisfied.
Politicians like Speaker Nancy Pelosi believe platforms like Facebook aren't doing enough to silence what they consider toxic rhetoric (or simply, voices of opposition), mainly from the Right. Those on the radical Left seek to seize the reins of public dialogue to suit their message. Not only do they think these companies are acting inadequately, but it is also politically expedient for Democrats going into 2020 to oppose big, “evil corporations,” like Bernie.
The deep irony of this situation remains that while for nearly a decade Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter have all enjoyed the fruits of favor by being propagandists for the Left, the very party they overwhelmingly support is launching an offensive against them. The Left eats itself.