5 ms·

Well, let me break it down for you: The US political landscape looks like this: Republicans want deregulation everywhere, no matter the cost, the second you ta

by vxNsr 6y ago

Well, let me break it down for you: The US political landscape looks like this: Republicans want deregulation everywhere, no matter the cost, the second you talk about limiting big business or monopoly busting they run away. Democrats on the other hand rely heavily on favors from the tech establishment to keep their agendas front and center and hide any downsides, this means letting BigTech(tm) have free reign. Thus both parties are incentivized to look the other way. Only recently did the Republicans wake up to TOO BIG = bad; but their solutions are all terrible and thankfully were never entertained by any meaningful majority. Meanwhile the democrats are working very hard to cement the current big tech conglomerates into having control and power so you can expect more of the same.

api 6y ago
> the second you talk about limiting big business or monopoly busting they run away Unless big business is de-platforming right-wing content, in which case this principle is instantly forgotten and we need regulation and monopolies need to be broken up...
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- vxNsr 6y ago
  > Only recently did the Republicans wake up to TOO BIG = bad; but their solutions are all terrible and thankfully were never entertained by any meaningful majority. Covered that here
setpatchaddress 6y ago
The parties have changed since whenever you last read up on this (four years ago? ten years ago?). Gop politicians (for Republicans call themselves this) don't care about deregulation anymore -- they just want to funnel money and power to the wealthy. Dem politicians now seem very excited about breaking up Facebook and Google. Both parties want to hurt Google and Facebook for perceived political bias. Gop politicians want this because Google and Facebook sometimes allow some left-of-center voices to occasionally penetrate their newsfeeds. Dem politicians want this because Facebook has been a vector for QAnon and other wingnut-terrorist radicalization.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- jrochkind1 6y ago
  > Gop politicians (for Republicans call themselves this) don't care about deregulation anymore -- they just want to funnel money and power to the wealthy. It almost makes one wonder if that's what deregulation was for all along....
- vxNsr 6y ago
  > Gop Is GOP, it's an acronym for Grand Old Party. But I was just describing the current climate, the Repubs, never cared about dereg until recently when they realized that FB and Google are abusing their power, but all the GOP solutions involved draconian backwards thinking that would only make things worse. > Both parties want to hurt Google and Facebook for perceived political bias. Not quite, GOP wants to hurt 'em, Dems are very happy with them, and all their "dereg" is basically aimed at giving them more power.
mistersquid 6y ago
Democrats have been very vocal and, more recently, active about bringing antitrust actions against big tech for the last 4 years now, with Senator Elizabeth Warren campaigning for President on a tech trust-busting platform. Rather than link to those campaign promises, I'll point out that the current legislative strategy for restoring competition to the tech sector is being spearheaded by Democratic Representative David Cicilline. [0] Additionally, Professor Tim Wu's appointment to the National Economic Council by the Biden administration speaks volumes of the urgency for antitrust action on the part of the Democratic party. [1] [0] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-big-tech-antitrust/u-s-house-antitrust-chairman-plans-multiple-bills-to-go-after-big-tech-idUSKBN2BE01N https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-big-tech-antitrust/u-... [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/05/technology/tim-wu-white-house.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/05/technology/tim-wu-white-h...
- LegitShady 6y ago
  I'm inclined to think democrats talking about anti trust in relation to tech firms are more looking for influence than honest-to-god anti trust. It's much easier to get companies to move your way if you threaten them with broad investigations into their activities. They're much more likely to behave the way you want later. That doesn't change the real danger these companies represent to the continued freedoms and viability of society, given the current social media feedback loop and the death of journalism as a result of tech. We're in uncharted territory.
  - mistersquid 6y ago
    > It's much easier to get companies to move your way if you threaten them with broad investigations into their activities. It's also much easier to enforce antitrust by initiating antitrust legislation. Currently, the strategy of broad investigations is yielding to multiple focused pieces of legislation spearheaded by David Cicilline (link in GP).
    - LegitShady 6y ago
      >It's also much easier to enforce antitrust by initiating antitrust legislation. Sure, but I don't think thats the case. >Currently, the strategy of broad investigations is yielding to multiple focused pieces of legislation spearheaded by David Cicilline (link in GP). I think you have it backwards. From what I can see David Cicilline will go after social media for pushing 'misinformation' and call for even harsher corporate censorship in the name of information security, and will likely want to alter section 230 to make it easier to punish them for algorithmic 'misinformation' rather than to push more freedom for normal people. Don't expect more freedoms, expect more control. They aren't going after these companies in your defense, they're doing it to control them and use their power against their enemies. They'll use misinformation and election security and whatever else just as a cover for making things worse but being in control.

by vxNsr 6y ago

api 6y ago

> the second you talk about limiting big business or monopoly busting they run away Unless big business is de-platforming right-wing content, in which case this principle is instantly forgotten and we need regulation and monopolies need to be broken up...

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
vxNsr 6y ago
> Only recently did the Republicans wake up to TOO BIG = bad; but their solutions are all terrible and thankfully were never entertained by any meaningful majority. Covered that here

setpatchaddress 6y ago

The parties have changed since whenever you last read up on this (four years ago? ten years ago?). Gop politicians (for Republicans call themselves this) don't care about deregulation anymore -- they just want to funnel money and power to the wealthy. Dem politicians now seem very excited about breaking up Facebook and Google. Both parties want to hurt Google and Facebook for perceived political bias. Gop politicians want this because Google and Facebook sometimes allow some left-of-center voices to occasionally penetrate their newsfeeds. Dem politicians want this because Facebook has been a vector for QAnon and other wingnut-terrorist radicalization.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
jrochkind1 6y ago
> Gop politicians (for Republicans call themselves this) don't care about deregulation anymore -- they just want to funnel money and power to the wealthy. It almost makes one wonder if that's what deregulation was for all along....
vxNsr 6y ago
> Gop Is GOP, it's an acronym for Grand Old Party. But I was just describing the current climate, the Repubs, never cared about dereg until recently when they realized that FB and Google are abusing their power, but all the GOP solutions involved draconian backwards thinking that would only make things worse. > Both parties want to hurt Google and Facebook for perceived political bias. Not quite, GOP wants to hurt 'em, Dems are very happy with them, and all their "dereg" is basically aimed at giving them more power.

mistersquid 6y ago

Democrats have been very vocal and, more recently, active about bringing antitrust actions against big tech for the last 4 years now, with Senator Elizabeth Warren campaigning for President on a tech trust-busting platform. Rather than link to those campaign promises, I'll point out that the current legislative strategy for restoring competition to the tech sector is being spearheaded by Democratic Representative David Cicilline. [0] Additionally, Professor Tim Wu's appointment to the National Economic Council by the Biden administration speaks volumes of the urgency for antitrust action on the part of the Democratic party. [1] [0] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-big-tech-antitrust/u-s-house-antitrust-chairman-plans-multiple-bills-to-go-after-big-tech-idUSKBN2BE01N https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-big-tech-antitrust/u-... [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/05/technology/tim-wu-white-house.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/05/technology/tim-wu-white-h...

LegitShady 6y ago
I'm inclined to think democrats talking about anti trust in relation to tech firms are more looking for influence than honest-to-god anti trust. It's much easier to get companies to move your way if you threaten them with broad investigations into their activities. They're much more likely to behave the way you want later. That doesn't change the real danger these companies represent to the continued freedoms and viability of society, given the current social media feedback loop and the death of journalism as a result of tech. We're in uncharted territory.
- mistersquid 6y ago
  > It's much easier to get companies to move your way if you threaten them with broad investigations into their activities. It's also much easier to enforce antitrust by initiating antitrust legislation. Currently, the strategy of broad investigations is yielding to multiple focused pieces of legislation spearheaded by David Cicilline (link in GP).
  - LegitShady 6y ago
    >It's also much easier to enforce antitrust by initiating antitrust legislation. Sure, but I don't think thats the case. >Currently, the strategy of broad investigations is yielding to multiple focused pieces of legislation spearheaded by David Cicilline (link in GP). I think you have it backwards. From what I can see David Cicilline will go after social media for pushing 'misinformation' and call for even harsher corporate censorship in the name of information security, and will likely want to alter section 230 to make it easier to punish them for algorithmic 'misinformation' rather than to push more freedom for normal people. Don't expect more freedoms, expect more control. They aren't going after these companies in your defense, they're doing it to control them and use their power against their enemies. They'll use misinformation and election security and whatever else just as a cover for making things worse but being in control.