For months now, the drumbeat for reining in Big Tech has been getting louder. Critics have suggested solutions from breaking up Facebook and Amazon to regulating social networks and search engines as public utilities. This summer, the heads of major tech firms were hauled before Congress, and the House Antitrust Subcommittee reportedly is following up with a major report calling for a breakup of the biggest of the Big Tech companies as a capstone to its 15-month investigation.
Antitrust Isn’t the Solution to America’s Biggest Tech Problem
162 million Americans don’t have reliable internet access.
October 02, 2020
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Summary.
Enthusiasm for reforming America’s biggest tech companies is growing, and fast. As Congress considers antitrust action against Amazon and Facebook, and new regulations directed at Google, it’s important to consider the history of anti-tech antitrust cases, both recent and distant: Microsoft, IBM, and the Bell System monopoly all ended with settlements that left the companies intact after lengthy legal battles. America’s biggest tech problem can’t be fixed through antitrust — half of the country struggles to reliably get online at all. To address this, lawmakers should make a deal that conscripts the tech giants to address the digital divide and use the momentum for reform the country’s most damaging tech woe.