Fox News's Steve Hilton speaks like a true conservative when he urges the Justice Department's antitrust division to get cracking breaking up Big Tech.
Hilton urges bust-up of Big Tech
https://video.foxnews.com/v/6012321126001/#sp=show-clips
Enforcing anti-monopoly law, as Hilton says, promotes a free market not controlled by a handful of behemoths. That's good for competition and for democracy.
The Swamp Watch clip doesn't say so, but breaking up Big Tech would also be good for free speech. In fact, it is Big Tech which is conspiring to increasingly suppress conservative speech on the internet, as the companies immunize themselves from libel suits by claiming the protection of being a carrier or "neutral forum." Yet at the same time they are claiming control over content, making them media companies which should in that case not be immune to libel suits.
Why the crackdown on conservative personalities and media? The idea is to silence Trump supporters so they won't influence voters with their links to right-wing sources. That is, Big Tech and Mainstream Media are conspiring, with Deep State bureaucrats, to control the dialogue in the next presidential campaign cycle. Nice liberals may preach the progressive gospel on Facebook and YouTube but the gang of conservatives, libertarians and alt-right heretics must be cast out of the church, hopefully to burn at the stake.
Prior to his confirmation as attorney general, William Barr told lawmakers, “I don't think big is necessarily bad, but I think a lot of people wonder how such huge behemoths that now exist in Silicon Valley have taken shape under the nose of the antitrust enforcers. You can win that place in the marketplace without violating the antitrust laws, but I want to find out more about that dynamic."
Barr's skillful reply gives hope to some that Trump's Justice Department will become more aggressive in enforcing antitrust law against Big Tech. Will Barr remove his antitrust chief, Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim, for a more aggressive enforcer, as Hilton is urging? Ordinarily Trump doesn't like to tread on the toes of big business, unless his toes are being stepped on. In fact, Delrahim put a great deal of effort into trying to block AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner, and with it CNN. CNN chief Jeff Zucker has said he believes Trump wanted to pay back the highly anti-Trump network.
Even if Trump's team eventually defeats CNN, the whole brouhaha seems a tempest in a teapot, at least with respect to benefiting Trump. But if his Justice Department would crack down on Big Tech in general, targeting these firms for monopolistic practices such as gimmicks that restrain trade, he would force them to tend to business rather than tending to what Americans should be allowed to say.
Further, a really hip move would be to have Barr's team switch sides and back "net neutrality" (or the important parts of it). Net neutrality would prevent Big Tech from controlling speech -- since they would be required to stay neutral as to content. And, as a big bonus, many Democrats support neutrality, meaning they would have a hard time accusing Trump of conspiracy if his Justice Department granted it.
Hilton urges bust-up of Big Tech
https://video.foxnews.com/v/6012321126001/#sp=show-clips
Enforcing anti-monopoly law, as Hilton says, promotes a free market not controlled by a handful of behemoths. That's good for competition and for democracy.
The Swamp Watch clip doesn't say so, but breaking up Big Tech would also be good for free speech. In fact, it is Big Tech which is conspiring to increasingly suppress conservative speech on the internet, as the companies immunize themselves from libel suits by claiming the protection of being a carrier or "neutral forum." Yet at the same time they are claiming control over content, making them media companies which should in that case not be immune to libel suits.
Why the crackdown on conservative personalities and media? The idea is to silence Trump supporters so they won't influence voters with their links to right-wing sources. That is, Big Tech and Mainstream Media are conspiring, with Deep State bureaucrats, to control the dialogue in the next presidential campaign cycle. Nice liberals may preach the progressive gospel on Facebook and YouTube but the gang of conservatives, libertarians and alt-right heretics must be cast out of the church, hopefully to burn at the stake.
Prior to his confirmation as attorney general, William Barr told lawmakers, “I don't think big is necessarily bad, but I think a lot of people wonder how such huge behemoths that now exist in Silicon Valley have taken shape under the nose of the antitrust enforcers. You can win that place in the marketplace without violating the antitrust laws, but I want to find out more about that dynamic."
Barr's skillful reply gives hope to some that Trump's Justice Department will become more aggressive in enforcing antitrust law against Big Tech. Will Barr remove his antitrust chief, Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim, for a more aggressive enforcer, as Hilton is urging? Ordinarily Trump doesn't like to tread on the toes of big business, unless his toes are being stepped on. In fact, Delrahim put a great deal of effort into trying to block AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner, and with it CNN. CNN chief Jeff Zucker has said he believes Trump wanted to pay back the highly anti-Trump network.
Even if Trump's team eventually defeats CNN, the whole brouhaha seems a tempest in a teapot, at least with respect to benefiting Trump. But if his Justice Department would crack down on Big Tech in general, targeting these firms for monopolistic practices such as gimmicks that restrain trade, he would force them to tend to business rather than tending to what Americans should be allowed to say.
Further, a really hip move would be to have Barr's team switch sides and back "net neutrality" (or the important parts of it). Net neutrality would prevent Big Tech from controlling speech -- since they would be required to stay neutral as to content. And, as a big bonus, many Democrats support neutrality, meaning they would have a hard time accusing Trump of conspiracy if his Justice Department granted it.
No comments:
Post a Comment