Page 24 - AT

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Saturday 12 OctOber 2019
Big Tech is now a big punching bag for politicians

By BARBARA ORTUTAY ership of The Washington
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Post. He's met with Zucker-
Republicans and Demo- berg privately, but he's also
crats don't agree on health tweeted that "Facebook
care, immigration or taxing was always anti-Trump"
the rich. But one subject and accused it of collud-
draws critics from both par- ing with the news media
ties: Big Tech. against him.
The list of grievances is long Amid all this, at least in pub-
and growing by the week. lic, the companies have
Companies like Google, mostly kept a low profile.
Facebook and Amazon But there are occasional
are too big and powerful. glimpses of behind-the-
They're bad for privacy, scenes activity. Leaked
public discourse, democ- audio from an internal
racy and small business. Facebook meeting in July
They're spying on us, con- captured Zuckerberg ac-
tributing to economic in- knowledging that if "some-
equality and hooking us one like" Warren is elected,
and our children on addic- he expects Facebook to
tive, useless services. fight back — and prevail
The companies themselves — against efforts to break it
object to these character- up in court. But he added:
izations, though how loudly "And does that still suck for
they object varies. us? Yeah."
Sen. Kamala Harris, a Cali- Amazon, by contrast, brief-
fornia Democrat, urged ly tried to debate the can-
Twitter to suspend President didates on Twitter.
Donald Trump's account In April, after Warren com-
for violating the service's plained that Amazon and
rules, while Republican other big tech companies
Sen. Josh Hawley of Mis- have "too much power,"
souri is battling what he the company responded
considers tech companies' by pointing the finger at
bias against conservatives. its main rival: "Walmart is
Hawley has also told Face- much larger; Amazon is less
book CEO Mark Zucker- than 4% of U.S. retail."
berg that he should sell off When Rep. Alexandria
WhatsApp and Instagram. Ocasio-Cortez said in a TV
The companies are trying to interview in June that Ama-
maintain a neutral stance, zon pays workers "starva-
even if that draws the ire of tion wages," the company
politicians as divergent as In this Oct. 2, 2019 file photo, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., tweeted that she "is just
the president and those try- speaks during a gun safety forum in Las Vegas. wrong."
ing to impeach him. Behind Associated Press And Amazon gave former
the scenes, though, they Vice President Joe Biden a
are spending millions on be viewed as a free pass to publican who retweeted legislation that seems too corporate tax lesson after
lobbying in hopes of ward- politicians like Trump. Warren for what he said anti-business. That includes he tweeted that it shouldn't
ing off breakups or intrusive "Anything they do is go- was the first time. Cruz said breaking up tech compa- be paying a "lower tax rate
regulation. ing to attract criticism," "she's right — Big Tech has nies seen as too monopo- than firefighters and teach-
Not that there is any dan- Guess said. "That, of course, way too much power to si- listic. The same likely goes ers."
ger of either happening makes them a target." lence Free Speech." for any privacy law that re- "We pay every penny we
any time soon, especially Beyond discourse and pri- Since then, calling out the stricts companies' ability to owe," Amazon tweeted
with an ongoing impeach- vacy, antitrust concerns tech behemoths and other target ads to their liking. back. "Congress designed
ment probe. Still, talking have emerged as a major big corporations has been While the two parties agree tax laws to encourage
up Big Tech's problems has concern for lawmakers and a pillar of Warren's presi- that Big Tech has problems, companies to reinvest in
proven to be popular politi- candidates. This wasn't the dential campaign. Sen. they often differ on what the American economy.
cal rhetoric. case in 2016, when grum- Bernie Sanders, another those problems are — and We have."
When it comes to policing bling about the outsized leading Democratic can- how to fix them. You won't This was in June. Amazon
content, social media ser- power of tech was largely didate, has also said break- find many Democrats com- seems to have backed off
vices are "caught between confined to activists and ing up Amazon, Google plaining about tech's per- since.
a rock and a hard place," those on the most liberal and Apple is "something ceived conservative bias, Expect the political push-
said Andrew Guess, a Princ- end of the spectrum. we should definitely take a for instance. Nor will you back to continue, from
eton University political sci- Leading the pack has been look at." find many conservatives both parties, said Joshua
entist who studies social Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Still, while there have been complaining of algorith- Tucker, co-director of New
media and its effects on Democratic presidential congressional hearings, in- mic bias against people of York University's Social Me-
political opinion. candidate who in March vestigations and fines, in- color. dia and Political Participa-
Blocking or suspending ac- proposed breaking up big cluding a record $5 billion Trump has been uneven in tion Lab.
counts for hate speech can tech companies. She gar- against Facebook, little has his criticisms. Amazon has "It's a bipartisan issue," he
prompt complaints of politi- nered immediate support, changed for Big Tech. been a frequent target, said. "But the right and the
cal bias or censorship, but even from rivals such as A Republican-controlled though that is due in part left are criticizing it for dif-
a hands-off approach may Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Re- Senate is unlikely to pass to CEO Jeff Bezos's own- ferent reasons."q