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Why? Because the US thankfully left behind the era of blatant cronyism, and regulatory agencies are allowed to do their jobs again
by nikanj 5y ago
Why? Because the US thankfully left behind the era of blatant cronyism, and regulatory agencies are allowed to do their jobs again
- surbas 5y agoBut for how long?
- the-dude 5y ago> left behind the era of blatant cronyism How so?
- robbedpeter 5y agoSo will the Biden admin handle big tech as forcefully and skillfully as it did Afghanistan?
- evgen 5y agoYou mean say what they are going to do and then actually do it? We can hope so.
- mattmanser 5y agoI thought the republicans hated Facebook too? I seem to remember after the first time, everyone here was complaining that the initial case the FTC put together was so incoherent there were no surprises it failed. I could be mis-remembering, but that was my general impression though I didn't follow it that closely. Just sounded like incompetence rather than cronyism, but that could be from decades of underfunding.
- metalliqaz 5y agoAll of their talk is performative. Most of their voters are found on Facebook. GOP knows that Facebook is by far their most important tool for organizing and rallying their base. They would never admit it, but they also know that Facebook is an important segment of the right wing pipeline, which moves moderate conservatives into the rabid, paranoid, die-hard right wing where they will stay (and vote) forever, which keeps the Overton window moving to the right. Zuckerberg has a well known bias towards the right, and spent a lot of time schmoozing GOP leadership.
- Applejinx 5y agoNo, Zuckerberg has a well known bias towards Zuckerberg. What you're seeing is not any sort of well thought out advocacy of right wing ideology: he and Facebook have sometimes been dismayed when they stepped too far in that direction and have gotten used by political operatives (from this or other countries!). Nobody wants to be a pawn in other people's games, least of all Zuckerberg. It looks like Zuckerberg leans to the right because he is leaning away from certain parts of the Left: in particular, he's gonna be extremely wary of anything Elizabeth Warren (or to a lesser extent Bernie, the Squad, etc) has in mind concerning regulation and trustbusting. Zuckerberg's going to treat trustbusters as an existential threat, and I don't believe he has the moral compass to care who he allies with as long as he gets his way. For that reason, Zuckerberg and Facebook can end up allying with outright fascists in hopes of protecting themselves from communists. I don't know if they've got the historical perspective to understand how unwise that is, but I do know they're a key ally for any fascist, anywhere. Right wingers really need Zuck and Facebook, or something like it.
- germinalphrase 5y agoTrustbusting/anti-monopoly are communist?
- ByteJockey 5y agoI think that might have been an allusion to Weinmar Germany where industry leaders did end up allying with fascists to protect themselves from communists.
- AzzieElbab 5y agoThat was a lot of Zuckerbergs
- AzzieElbab 5y agoOh cmon. You know what happens if you say zuckerberg 5 times while looking at a mirror
- c048 5y agoThe era of cronyism and nepotism is very much still alive, even outside of the US. The only difference is the large drop in clear corruption, although don't make the mistake of believing that is anywhere near gone.
- pessimizer 5y agoThis has yet to be seen. There are good signs, but talk is never cheaper than from a Democratic administration. That being said, I was as surprised as everyone when the FTC refiled rather than turning their hands up and shrugging.
- OneEyedRobot 5y ago>Because the US thankfully left behind the era of blatant cronyism Bwahahahahahaha. There really is no way to respond to that statement.
- pope_meat 5y ago...did something big happen that I missed?