Republicans Are Mad At Big Tech For All The Wrong Reasons – Vanity Fair

Wednesdays House Judiciary Committee hearing represents a rare opportunity for Congress: to hold the leaders of the biggest technology companies feet to the fire, with an eye toward reining in their expansive and largely unchecked power. But a memo obtained by Politico Tuesday on the eve of the hearing suggests Republicans plan to squander that chance, with GOP members of the panel preparing to set aside the very real antitrust issues raised by Facebook, Google, Apple, and Amazonand, instead, to use their time to probe the Big Four on the very not real issue of anti-conservative bias at the companies.

Political bias in big tech should be decried, the memo reads, but antitrust wont solve it.

Amazons Jeff Bezos, Apples Tim Cook, Google-parent Alphabets Sundar Pichai, and Facebooks Mark Zuckerberg are all due on Capitol Hill Wednesday for a highly-anticipated clash between the countrys most powerful tech leaders and the Congressional committee aiming to curb them. But while distrust of the Big Four is bipartisan, Republicans are attacking the companies for all the wrong reasons. Democrats are concerned about what seems to be monopolistic behavior, as well as the role of Facebook and other social media platforms in the spread of false and misleading information and in foreign election interference. These platforms have been allowed to run wild and free from really any constraints, David Cicilline, chair of the House Antitrust Subcommittee, told the Wall Street Journal. The responsibility we have is to make clear what the impacts are of the lack of competition in the digital marketplace.

But Republicans seem less concerned with the potential antitrust abuses that have led to calls from Elizabeth Warren and others on the left to break up big tech. Conservatives, instead, have based their Silicon Valley attacks on the notion that these firms and their leaders have it in for theman idea that simply isnt rooted in reality. Donald Trump and his allies have long belly-ached that social media companies are working to undermine him; just this week, he whined, ludicrously, that Twitters trending topics about him are ridiculous, illegal, and, of course, very unfair! So disgusting to watch Twitters so-called Trending, where sooo many trends are about me, and never a good one, the president wrote, in the middle of a pandemic thats killed more than 150,000 Americans. They look for anything they can find, make it as bad as possible, and blow it up, trying to make it trend. Thats not quite how it works, of course, and while Twitter chief Jack Dorsey has shown some spine recently in labeling or removing Trumps tweets that are dangerous or false, the president remains the sites most prominent user, and he continues to reap massive benefit from the megaphone it has provided him.

Of course, Zuckerberg has resisted even the kind of careful measures Dorsey has implemented to police hate and misinformation on his platform. On the contrary, Zuckerberg has courted the president and other conservatives in recent months, and his company has become a home to the right, which has used the platform as a dumping ground for conservative views and conspiracy theoriesmuch to the chagrin of rank-and-file employees, who have been increasingly open about their frustrations with Zuck, Sheryl Sandberg, and other company leaders.

Republicans are likely to point to some high-profile episodes, like Donald Trump Jr. and other Republicans having their Twitter accounts suspended and videos removed from Facebook after recklessly posting disinformation about a disproven COVID-19 therapy promoted by the president, as evidence they are being censored. Big Tech is intent on killing free expression online, Trump Jr. spokesman Andy Surabian told the Washington Post after the presidents son had his Twitter account suspended. But the president's son didnt have his account temporarily restricted over partisan speech; he got a time-out for blasting false and irresponsible claims about a public health crisis.

That these platforms, with broad and mostly unbridled power, have the potential to disseminate such dangerous lies and conspiracy theories is a far more pressing issue. Lawmakers on Wednesday have a real opportunity to challenge Americas most prominent tech leaders on their anti-competitive behavior and its impact on both democracy and everyday Americans but itll be wasted if Republicans spend their time stunting about nonexistent anti-conservative censorship and prosecuting Trumps petty crusade against Bezos.