Ready for a shoot-out
MEDIUM US AUDIO PLUS
Look out, Google! Watch your back, Amazon! Tim Wu is coming for you. In March, the 49-yearold American took on a new position, as special assistant to U.S. President Joe Biden for technology and competition policy. Wu is one of the most famous critics of Big Tech.
The Columbia Law School professor created the term “net neutrality,” the idea that Internet service providers should make online content equally available to everyone. He has recently turned his attention to reining in the companies that dominate online speech, searches, and shopping: Apple, Facebook, Google, and Amazon. “I don’t think these oligopolies are good for employees, good for productivity, good for anything,” he told Wired magazine in 2019.
Do these tech companies now have anything to fear? Tim Wu is the government’s new gunslinger, but Big Tech is armed and ready for a fight.