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Matt Stoller Profile picture
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25 Jan, 4 tweets, 1 min read
There's no better way to destroy the idea of free speech than to pretend that the borderless sociopathic communication systems we have now are some beautiful paragon of an open society free from censorship.
This is not an argument for free speech or against censorship, it's an argument that all media and communication systems should be controlled by uncaring distant pools of capital. It's sociopathy dressed up with footnotes.
Community standards are public abridgments on speech, so arguing that we should have no public abridgments on speech is an argument against all community standards. That is not free speech, it's just sociopathy.
Prohibitions on passing information along for insider trading are prohibitions on speech. Whaddya know, libertarians seem to want to legalize insider trading.

Same for false and deceptive ads, fraud, bribery, etc.

Weird.

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Matt Stoller Profile picture
25 Jan
Good thread, though I would note that the other problem with the Obama WH on financial regulation was the lie that they sought to stop foreclosures instead of encourage them. Barr was knee deep in that horrific dishonesty, but it's not like any progressives were honest either.
Fundamentally the trade during the Obama era was to steal all middle class savings and create a new class of untouchable billionaires and lie about it, in return for an irrelevant consumer protection agency.

That was a bad trade and it's one few will acknowledge, even today.
Well, not all, but a lot of it. Obama had the chance to reorient the American political order towards a democracy. Instead of doing that, he orchestrated a plutocracy, and lied about it. Barr was a point person here. But progressives still haven't reckoned with it.
Read 4 tweets
Matt Stoller Profile picture
21 Jan
1. As @ZephyrTeachout notes, there is now a big opportunity to take on monopolies. Biden has picked an acting Antitrust chief, Gene Kimmelman, and an acting FTC Chair, @RKSlaughterFTC.
2. Everyone in these positions always say they will be tough on monopolies and big tech. That's not meaningful. There are two questions. One, what is their view of the point of antitrust? To enhance economic efficiency (aka 'consumer welfare')? Or protect us from big business?
3. Kimmelman is generally a consumer welfare advocate, and he supported the DOJ under Obama suing book publishers on behalf of Amazon because supporting Amazon's monopoly would lower consumer prices. It's possible he has rethought his approach.
Read 9 tweets
Matt Stoller Profile picture
20 Jan
The Chinese government just sent a very aggressive message to Biden-world, saying officials who pursue a policy framework averse to the PRC will have trouble earning money from most American corporations after they leave the administration.
The Chinese government totally recognizes the weakness of American politics. The PRC is saying no revolving door corruption unless you do our bidding. It's the single best argument for anti-corruption measures I've ever seen. China just passed H.R. 1.
I've been pushing for a complete disentangling of the Chinese and American economies, which sounds hardline or incredibly difficult, at first. But the Chinese gov't keeps making my case.
Read 5 tweets
Matt Stoller Profile picture
18 Jan
Pentagon is warning of a serious monopoly crisis in its supply chain. businessdefense.gov/Portals/51/USA…
“The number of cases where there is just one – often fragile – supplier is staggering. This is a deterioration from a decade ago when 3 to 5 suppliers existed for each component, let alone several decades ago when the military generally enjoyed dozens of suppliers for each item.”
The Defense Department is now also pointing out that Wall Street is a huge national security problem, as is what the Pentagon calls a "radical vision of free trade without fair trade enforcement."
Read 4 tweets
Matt Stoller Profile picture
17 Jan
Alex Jones doesn't need to be censored, but he doesn't need to be recommended to YouTube viewers 15 billion times. That's the issue, it's the targeted ad model of big tech that turns dangerous cranks - who exist in every culture - into superstars.
The idea that a small group of English-speaking Silicon Valley titans can control speech while running radicalization engines is simply ludicrous. Even if they can do it in the U.S., what about all the conspiracy theories and danger in every other non-Western non-English nation?
The reason all these media and big tech execs want censorship is because it's the only path that preserves their revenue and social position. It doesn't address the problem, which is *their own business model* radicalizing millions and ruining our minds.
Read 5 tweets
Matt Stoller Profile picture
15 Jan
Hey conservatives I know you're all mad about Silicon Valley censoring you but Trump's Antitrust Division chief Makan Delrahim's final act was to let Google complete its acquisition of Fitbit. Congrats for being completely inattentive to Trump's policy choices around big tech.
My critique of Democrats under Obama is they paid zero attention to the foreclosure crisis and much of Obama's policy framework. Conservatives have operated exactly as Democrats did, if not worse, completely uninterested in what Trump did - in this case empowering big tech.
The most meaningful action against big tech was @davidcicilline's 16 month investigation of large technology firms in the antitrust subcommittee in which he found lots of evidence of monopoly power.

@Jim_Jordan did everything he could to sabotage it.
Read 4 tweets

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