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>While the Republicans could push through a relatively lenient offer along partisan lines, doing so could come with heavy political costs for the agency, since

>While the Republicans could push through a relatively lenient offer along partisan lines, doing so could come with heavy political costs for the agency, since it would expose them to attacks that the Republican majority is soft on misbehaving technology companies. One thing that has changed recently in politics is that a significant portion of Republican base now considers Silicon Valley tech companies as foes. I would guess that there would actually be a lot of grassroots support for a massive fine on Facebook. In the past, tech companies could assume that the Republican affinity for big business would shield them. Now that has gone.

Applejinx 8y ago
>a significant portion of Republican base now considers Silicon Valley tech companies as foes Which is hilarious, as Facebook at least is happy to take Russian money to aid Republicans. Silicon Valley is party-less, stateless. They serve only money, nothing else.
- commandlinefan 8y ago
  > party-less I think that’s a stretch. Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Jack Dorsey (Twitter), Mark Benioff (Salesforce), Tim Cook and Reed Hastings (Netflix) have all come out as rabidly pro-Democrat and have in many cases admitted to adjusting their platforms to shift public sentiment in favor of liberal politicians and liberal political causes.
  - Implicated 8y ago
    > and have in many cases admitted to adjusting their platforms to shift public sentiment in favor of liberal politicians and liberal political causes. Can you cite some sources on this? I'm curious as to how these admissions came about.
    - commandlinefan 8y ago
      Well, I'm referring to the Facebook/Twitter/YouTube conservative purge - they're pretty open about it.
      - Avshalom 8y ago
        If they're doing it they aren't 'open' about it unless you think there's no difference whatever Alex Jones or Richard Spencer are and conservatives.
  - BrainlingPdx 8y ago
    Silicon Valley is a haven of meritocratic fake libertarianism. Most of the people on your list that are supposedly "rabidly pro-Democrat" have given as much, more more, to Republican pro business candidates as Democrats. I guess to you anyone who isn't sucking at the teet of Fox and Breitbart is "rabidly pro-Democrat"? You need some pretty serious citations before I'm going to believe anything out of that last line. It sounds like an easily re-packaged and regurgitated Fox sound bite more than reality.
Maxamillion96 8y ago
If you look at conservative opinion formers, like Tucker Carlson, they're talking about breaking up major firms and so on. I think the ideology that was pro-oligarchy died on both the left and right in 2008, and only the most diehard centrists are believers in it
- save_ferris 8y ago
  Really? That really surprises me given the free market arguments that he and others bring. Do you happen to have a specific example of him arguing this?
  - ceejayoz 8y ago
    > That really surprises me given the free market arguments that he and others bring. Tucker Carlson holding inconsistent positions shouldn't be the slightest bit surprising. https://dailycaller.com/2018/09/11/not-the-capitalism-i-signed-up-for/ https://dailycaller.com/2018/09/11/not-the-capitalism-i-sign... > “So that’s the crux of it right there,” said Tucker. “You are hearing Google, or you have for the past ten years, Google, Facebook and a number of other companies defended on pro-market grounds,” Tucker said before making the point that a “monopoly changes the calculation completely.”
  - defen 8y ago
    The idea is that the large tech companies are overwhelmingly staffed and lead by people who qualify as the political left by American standards. As Breitbart said, "Politics is downstream from culture." - so if you have the most important communications platforms the world has ever seen all privately owned and operated by "the left", that sounds like a bad thing if you're on "the right", because they can shape discourse however they want - either overtly by banning people for bad politics or covertly by shadowbanning and otherwise muting popular voices with undesirable opinions. Imagine if Google/Facebook/Twitter were owned by the Koch brothers and staffed by members of the Federalist Society and Heritage Foundation - people on the left would be doing the same thing Tucker Carlson is doing.
    - 8y ago
r00fus 8y ago
Politicians only care about a) their funders and b) fear of the voters. When it comes to a choice between those two, they'll chose (a) every time. Follow the money almost always works for politicians. There are precious few exceptions.

Applejinx 8y ago

>a significant portion of Republican base now considers Silicon Valley tech companies as foes Which is hilarious, as Facebook at least is happy to take Russian money to aid Republicans. Silicon Valley is party-less, stateless. They serve only money, nothing else.

commandlinefan 8y ago
> party-less I think that’s a stretch. Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Jack Dorsey (Twitter), Mark Benioff (Salesforce), Tim Cook and Reed Hastings (Netflix) have all come out as rabidly pro-Democrat and have in many cases admitted to adjusting their platforms to shift public sentiment in favor of liberal politicians and liberal political causes.
- Implicated 8y ago
  > and have in many cases admitted to adjusting their platforms to shift public sentiment in favor of liberal politicians and liberal political causes. Can you cite some sources on this? I'm curious as to how these admissions came about.
  - commandlinefan 8y ago
    Well, I'm referring to the Facebook/Twitter/YouTube conservative purge - they're pretty open about it.
    - Avshalom 8y ago
      If they're doing it they aren't 'open' about it unless you think there's no difference whatever Alex Jones or Richard Spencer are and conservatives.
- BrainlingPdx 8y ago
  Silicon Valley is a haven of meritocratic fake libertarianism. Most of the people on your list that are supposedly "rabidly pro-Democrat" have given as much, more more, to Republican pro business candidates as Democrats. I guess to you anyone who isn't sucking at the teet of Fox and Breitbart is "rabidly pro-Democrat"? You need some pretty serious citations before I'm going to believe anything out of that last line. It sounds like an easily re-packaged and regurgitated Fox sound bite more than reality.

Maxamillion96 8y ago

If you look at conservative opinion formers, like Tucker Carlson, they're talking about breaking up major firms and so on. I think the ideology that was pro-oligarchy died on both the left and right in 2008, and only the most diehard centrists are believers in it

save_ferris 8y ago
Really? That really surprises me given the free market arguments that he and others bring. Do you happen to have a specific example of him arguing this?
- ceejayoz 8y ago
  > That really surprises me given the free market arguments that he and others bring. Tucker Carlson holding inconsistent positions shouldn't be the slightest bit surprising. https://dailycaller.com/2018/09/11/not-the-capitalism-i-signed-up-for/ https://dailycaller.com/2018/09/11/not-the-capitalism-i-sign... > “So that’s the crux of it right there,” said Tucker. “You are hearing Google, or you have for the past ten years, Google, Facebook and a number of other companies defended on pro-market grounds,” Tucker said before making the point that a “monopoly changes the calculation completely.”
- defen 8y ago
  The idea is that the large tech companies are overwhelmingly staffed and lead by people who qualify as the political left by American standards. As Breitbart said, "Politics is downstream from culture." - so if you have the most important communications platforms the world has ever seen all privately owned and operated by "the left", that sounds like a bad thing if you're on "the right", because they can shape discourse however they want - either overtly by banning people for bad politics or covertly by shadowbanning and otherwise muting popular voices with undesirable opinions. Imagine if Google/Facebook/Twitter were owned by the Koch brothers and staffed by members of the Federalist Society and Heritage Foundation - people on the left would be doing the same thing Tucker Carlson is doing.
  - 8y ago

r00fus 8y ago

Politicians only care about a) their funders and b) fear of the voters. When it comes to a choice between those two, they'll chose (a) every time. Follow the money almost always works for politicians. There are precious few exceptions.