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> If the Democrats win the election this year, I think Google and Facebook both stand serious chances of looking at antitrust cases. I think there is a serious

> If the Democrats win the election this year, I think Google and Facebook both stand serious chances of looking at antitrust cases. I think there is a serious chance, no matter who wins the election. The tech companies have pulled off the difficult feat of allying both parties against them. Democrats, in addition to their historical opposition to big business, blame them for the spread of misinformation that allowed Trump to get elected, and Republicans blame them for censoring Republican opinion. The fact that these companies have very outspoken employees who publicly oppose conservatives (see Kay James) does not help. In the past, big business could rely on Republicans to shield them. However, for the most part, big tech entered the culture wars opposing Republicans, and I think a lot of Republicans will happily support their breakup.

SQueeeeeL 7y ago
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/14/facebook-zuckerberg-conservatives-private-meetings-046663 https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/14/facebook-zuckerberg... There's no allying against them, they've been sweet talking lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
- dave_b 7y ago
  They’re playing the corruption game with politicians, but the rank and file of both sides hate them. That’s a much riskier situation than a big company wants to be in. The amazing part is that both sides hate them for their own political reasons, not because of any common ground.
mtgx 7y ago
It's not really the politicians per se that they pissed off, but the people. I remember writing something about this years ago saying that if Google and other companies like it continue to shit on their users, there will come a time when they will no longer benefit from users defending them against various governments, and in fact may cheer the governments going after them. Google lost it when it gave up on "Don't be evil" (and please spare me of that crap excuse of "Don't be evil" being found in a footnote in Google's documents somewhere -- I'm talking about Don't be evil being a guiding principle for everyone in the company).
chrisco255 7y ago
When have the Democrats been anti-big business? Genuinely curious, was the last time Microsoft in the 90s? They've been pretty closely aligned with corporate America as far back as I can remember.

SQueeeeeL 7y ago

https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/14/facebook-zuckerberg-conservatives-private-meetings-046663 https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/14/facebook-zuckerberg... There's no allying against them, they've been sweet talking lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

dave_b 7y ago
They’re playing the corruption game with politicians, but the rank and file of both sides hate them. That’s a much riskier situation than a big company wants to be in. The amazing part is that both sides hate them for their own political reasons, not because of any common ground.

mtgx 7y ago

It's not really the politicians per se that they pissed off, but the people. I remember writing something about this years ago saying that if Google and other companies like it continue to shit on their users, there will come a time when they will no longer benefit from users defending them against various governments, and in fact may cheer the governments going after them. Google lost it when it gave up on "Don't be evil" (and please spare me of that crap excuse of "Don't be evil" being found in a footnote in Google's documents somewhere -- I'm talking about Don't be evil being a guiding principle for everyone in the company).

chrisco255 7y ago

When have the Democrats been anti-big business? Genuinely curious, was the last time Microsoft in the 90s? They've been pretty closely aligned with corporate America as far back as I can remember.