Trump’s war on Big Tech sparks fears
President Donald Trump’s simmering war against Silicon Valley is raising concerns, notably among conservatives, about a politically motivated crackdown on tech firms that could damage free speech safeguards.
The attacks from the White House coincide with a justice department announcement that it would convene talks on whether social media firms are stifling speech or harming competition, and precedes a series of hearings by regulators to review how antitrust laws apply to digital giants.
Trump has stepped up his attacks on the tech industry, claiming that Google suppresses conservatives and promotes left-wing news sources and then issuing a vague warning to Facebook, Google and Twitter to be careful.
His criticism of political bias was echoed by some Republican legislators at hearings on Capitol Hill featuring Twitter and Facebook executives.
The prospect of a legal crackdown on Big Tech has industry leaders worried, but conservative activists are also worried about punishing one of America’s most important industries for political reasons.
John Samples, vice-president of the libertarian Cato Institute, said the Trump administration in claiming censorship is misapplying the constitution’s First Amendment free speech protection.
“The First Amendment sharply limits government power over speech. It does not limit private governance of speech,” he said in a blog post.
“Government officials bullying private companies contravenes a culture of free speech.
“Having the justice department investigate those companies looks a lot like a threat to the companies’ freedom.”
Randolph May, president of the Free State Foundation, a think tank that supports a deregulatory agenda, also warned against a government effort to regulate algorithms like those that Google uses.
“It would be unwise, as a matter of policy, to lodge the power to police search neutrality in the government’s hands,” May said in a column for the Washington Times.
“Because search results may be manipulated easily by those who design the algorithms, it would be foolish to risk giving government officials control over them.
“The temptation for government to abuse this power to promote its own messages – its own version of what is most relevant – is evident.”
American Enterprise Institute fellow James Pethokoukis said Trump and his allies may not have considered what type of precedent he could set if one of his political opponents wins the White House.
“Have they thought about the possibility that, say, president Elizabeth Warren might latch onto the latest ‘Trumpopulist’ thinking to create a Federal Internet Platform Commission to regulate the sector?” he asked in a blog post.
The spectacular growth of Big Tech in recent years has sparked talk of antitrust action, but Trump’s attacks have raised fears that any enforcement would be for political reasons.
“Certainly antitrust scrutiny is to be expected at this point when these companies are so big,” Eric Goldman, co-director of the High-Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University, said.
“But this could be the first step in a broad effort by the government to subvert the First Amendment under the guise of antitrust.”
Americans for Prosperity, the conservative political group created by billionaires David and Charles Koch, also warned the administration.
“Antitrust laws exist for the good of American consumers, not to further the political interests of public officials,” the association's policy manager, David Barnes, said. –