Ars: GOP’s Big Tech plan ignores consumers, targets “censorship” of Republicans instead

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I am shocked, shocked, shocked that Republicans in Congress are obfuscating on a matter that would pit its anti-tech urges against it big money backers.

Here is the simple reality, international business wants to use overseas slave labor to produce crap with no concern for the environment, send that crap over here as cheaply as possible and prevent you from fixing said crap yourself. That is the formula at work and it is the intersection of trade policy, monopolization and right to repair.

Trump paid lip service to right to repair in 2016 just like on trade and all of the other issues, only for the people to walk in with their brief cases full of cash and now you see Republicans in Congress begging Biden to end the trade war. Trump came and went, but the still cash flows like whiskey.

Business and such are seen to offer a pull towards stability and reason but the problem is that  the influence of donors creates the very gymnastics and the very incentive towards extremism on the one hand (either from people desiring to break this hold or through politicians desiring to get populist cred in areas that won't piss off the donors, you know the ones) and the rank obfuscation and avoidance of the real issues on the other (monopolization, automation, destruction of private property as a concept in favor of service-fee model, environmental concerns, debt crises including of the college variety, and of course health care).

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/07/gops-big-tech-plan-ignores-consumers-targets-censorship-of-republicans-instead/

"Big Tech is out to get conservatives" is the first sentence in the "House Judiciary Republican Agenda for Taking on Big Tech." The "conservative response" to tech-industry problems "will speed up and strengthen antitrust enforcement, hold Big Tech accountable for its censorship, and increase transparency around Big Tech's decisions," the opening paragraph continues. The word "competition" never appears in the two-page plan. A separate plan previously released by House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) does mention competition, but McCarthy's plan also focuses mostly on supposed bias against conservatives.

The GOP said the "accountability" portion of its plan "subjects Big Tech to legal accountability for its censorship. Platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube are functionally the public square of the digital age. It is wrong that these platforms control and censor speech with impunity." Republicans said they propose to "create a statutory basis for Americans to directly challenge Big Tech in court for its censorship and silencing of conservatives."

[...]

The GOP is also trying to sideline FTC Chair Lina Khan, who was just appointed to the agency's top spot by President Joe Biden. Claiming that the "current system of splitting antitrust enforcement between the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission... empowers radical Biden bureaucrats at the expense of Americans," the GOP said it wants to "consolidate antitrust enforcement within the Department of Justice so that it is more effective and accountable."

Disappointing that we have the first opportune time in years to really crack down on monopolies, and one of the two major parties is just completely obsessed with perceived bias against them on social media and not a whole lot else. I'd like to see if we can actually pass some major antitrust legislation without having to accept amendments from Republicans whose sole purpose is trying to get even with tech companies they believe have slighted conservatives.

Either way, this whole thing is symbolic of this country's biggest problems: despite having major problems staring us right in the face, all anyone can seem to focus on is more culture war drivel or other make-believe problems that do not matter or flat out do not exist, at least in the way being alleged.

Tbh in my opinion if it came to it, Democrats should accept Republican amendments to make any hypothetical bill against big tech palatable to them, as long as the Dem demands on anti-trust are met.

Wouldn't it be better to get an anti big tech monopolies bill that also includes some stuff about how "websites must treat all viewpoints equally" or whatever else they want to include than no bill at all? I imagine it would also make for a nice bipartisan bill in an era where bipartisanship seems to be on its way out?

If Democrats and Republicans can agree that big tech is bad, even if it is for different reasons, why don't they cooperate?

Bonus: Given that way back in the day corporations were ruled to have the right to free speech, meaning unlimited campaign contributions; I wonder if someone could get a ruling to declare that companies also have a right to freedom of assembly; meaning that there would be a bipartisan consensus to take away the freedom of speech/assembly rights from corporations? (ie Twitter can't ban Trump anymore, in exchange for strict campaign finance regulations)

What will happen is against this backdrop a group of Republican and Democratic "moderates" will come forward and gut the provisions dealing with combating monopolization and right to repair, ensuring that the financial interests of the donors are met, meanwhile the partisans are distracted by fights over the censorship issue.