AG Sessions to Examine Antitrust Violations, Censorship by Tech Corps
AG Sessions to Examine Antitrust Violations, Censorship by Tech Corps
By Daniel Greenfield
Google, Amazon and Facebook are deeply vulnerable on Antitrust. And they’re going to have decide whether they choose ‘woke’ or ‘broke’, lefty politics or maintaining their monopoly. Because the one thing they can’t do is be a monopoly and control everyone’s speech.
Attention is being paid.
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions will meet with state attorneys general later this month to discuss concerns that tech companies “may be hurting competition and intentionally stifling the free exchange of ideas on their platforms,” the Department of Justice said in a statement Wednesday.
The proposed meeting between the country’s top prosecutor and state officials is the first major signal of potential antitrust action against Silicon Valley and follows recent claims by President Donald Trump of political bias and censorship by major social media firms.
What that means, aside from Google and Facebook investing in even more lawyers, is a message being sent.
“Mixing ‘competition’ and the ‘exchange of ideas’ raises the idea of government using antitrust law to intimidate companies into doing their bidding — into being favorable to the Trump administration,” said Ed Black, president and CEO of the Computer and Communications Industry Association. “It’s worrisome.” Facebook and Google are both members of CCIA.
Exchange of ideas and competition are the same thing when companies build their business on the former.
Facebook and Google are in the business of content. Or ideas. Their monopolies are politically biased. No one is asking for favorable treatment, but for fair treatment, rather than a rigged game by powerful dot com monopolies.