Page 75 - Time Magazine, Sep. 17, 2018

TheView Technology

the tech space. “I’m now officially bi-
partisan,” tweeted Matt Stoller, a former
top adviser to Bernie Sanders, referenc-
ing Hatch’s letter to the FTC. Beginning
in mid-September, the FTC will host a
series of hearings on the big technology
firms’ market clout.

THAT THE TECH TITANS ARE CRUSHING
the competition simply by their size is
hardly in dispute. When Amazon an-
nounced plans last summer to purchase
Whole Foods, rival grocery chains lost a
combined market value of nearly $22 bil-
lion in a day. When Facebook announced
in May that it was launching a dating ser-
vice, the company that owns Match.com
lost 22% of its value almost immedi-
ately. In July, the European Union fined
Google $5 billion for breaking antitrust
laws—the second time the company had
been punished in a little over a year.
But winning an antitrust case in the
△
Washington takes on Facebook’s U.S. requires more than assembling evi-
dence that a corporation’s size distorts a
the threat of Big Tech Sheryl Sandberg market. Since the ’80s, federal antitrust
and Twitter’s
Jack Dorsey authorities have had to show that a com-
By Haley Sweetland Edwards pany’s size actively harms consumers,
testify before
the U.S. Senate by raising prices, say, or reducing choice.
ONCE THE FRESH-FACED DARLINGS OF D.C., BIG TECH in Washington In the digital economy, where tech firms
executives now receive a decidedly cooler reception on Capi- on Sept. 5 allow consumers to access their products
tol Hill. On Sept. 5, Twitter chief Jack Dorsey and Facebook for free, demonstrating that kind of harm
second-in-command Sheryl Sandberg got a tongue lashing is tricky. In 2013, when the FTC last in-
in Senate hearings. “You’re going to have to do something,” vestigated whether Google manipulated
warned Republican Senator James Risch of Idaho, or risk fac- 950 its search results to favor its own proper-
ing a crackdown from lawmakers and regulators. Google, ties, the commission found that it did,
whose co-founder Larry Page refused to show up at the hear- million but that Google’s practices on the whole
ings at all, drew even more vitriol. “Maybe it’s because they are Average benefited consumers. The FTC did not
number of
arrogant,” said Florida GOP Senator Marco Rubio. bring a case at that time.
hours per day
It’s not just talk. The biggest question at the confluence of that users But in recent years, antitrust thinking
business, technology and politics right now is whether Amer- spent on has begun to change. Since 2016, when
ica’s tech titans have grown too big and should be subject to Facebook’s the U.S. concluded that Russia weapon-
tough new rules or aggressive antitrust actions, including the services ized the unwitting tech firms against
at the end
federal government’s breaking up the behemoths as it did the American electorate to influence the
of 2017,
AT&T in 1982. The answer may depend on whether the rising according to presidential campaign, the scope of the
political ire is enough to overcome decades of antiregulatory the company potential harm Big Tech can unleash on
doctrine that narrowly—and perhaps naively—defines the citizens, not just consumers, has broad-
harm corporate giants might unleash. ened. “Before 2016, there was this sense
The political momentum appears to be growing. On the 6K that these companies were cool, progres-
right, Utah Senator Orrin Hatch sent a letter on Aug. 30 re- Average sive techies who did magic,” said Stoller,
questing that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reopen an number of now a fellow at Open Markets Institute.
investigation into Google’s online search and digital advertis- tweets posted “Now it’s like, ‘Oh. You’re Big Tobacco.’”
ing practices. Trump’s economic adviser Larry Kudlow said he per second Which explains why the tech execu-
worldwide,
was “taking a look at” regulating Google search results. And on tives worked overtime on Sept. 5 to con-
according to
Aug. 31, Fox News host Laura Ingraham suggested that federal Internet Live vince lawmakers they can address con- JIM WATSON — AFP/GET T Y IMAGES
regulators could treat Facebook and Twitter like public utili- Stats cerns without Washington’s help. “We
ties. On the left, Senator Elizabeth Warren has called repeat- were too slow to spot this and too slow to
edly for using antitrust enforcement to inject competition into act,” Sandberg said. “This is on us.” □
22 TIME September 17, 2018