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12 Mar, 14 tweets, 5 min read
House Antitrust Subcommittee is having a hearing now on big tech and the free press. Witnesses include @ggreenwald and Microsoft's Brad Smith. judiciary.house.gov/calendar/event…
Key point.
Yeah this is probably true but also, so what?
The thing about antitrust is that there is increasingly broad consensus, but everyone hates each other.
Now @NewsCEO is testifying. I really like the News Media Alliance. Chavern mentions how the press is the only business mentioned in the Constitution.

(Technically alcohol is in there, but that came later.)
Now Brad Smith (@BradSmi), the President of Microsoft, is talking about the death of newspapers. I don't know why Smith is testifying except that Microsoft is big and powerful. But ok I'm fine with it.
"What was previously advertising revenue for newspapers is now advertising revenue for tech companies." - Microsoft President @BradSmi
And now he goes at Google's monopoly in search. Microsoft has a competitor, Bing.
Now @ggreenwald is endorsing the @davidcicilline report's recommendations on breaking up big tech but also pointing out that elite media has been pressuring big tech to censor competitors and impose values on outlets with which they disagree.
It's hard not to agree with all of the witnesses.
Hakeem Jeffries (@RepJeffries) comes out with a Brandeis quote on the tension between wealth inequality and democracy. Nice.
Now Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) is saying he's "all for antitrust" against big tech. And is asking @ggreenwald about the deplatforming of Parler and the fusion of big gov't and big tech. This is a legitimate fear in my view.
I think the @davidcicilline antitrust exemption for newspapers is a good idea, but it is a stopgap (as Cicilline says). Congress must break up big tech to stop the centralization and control over speech and advertising.
Wow @RepKenBuck talks about how it would be much better if there were 5 Google's and 10 Facebook's.

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More from @matthewstoller

Matt Stoller Profile picture
13 Mar
1. There's an important debate w/in the Federalist Society over the conservative legal movement. The alliance between social conservatives and libertarians is breaking down. A few observations about this wonderful @jacklgoldsmith essay on the tension. libertiesjournal.com/now-showing/th…
2. My read, as an outsider to this debate, is that Scalia's view of Chevron and the regulatory state are a fulcrum for debate. Scalia expanded the power of the executive branch from the 1980s-2000. But bc of Obama's actions, libertarians are now fighting to overturn Chevron.
3. I'm not an expert here. But I suspect this debate skips over a key part of the conservative legal movement, which was Bork/Scalia's erosion of the anti-monopoly tradition in American law. Trinko - which got rid of Section 2 claims - is a useful and consequential decision here.
Read 16 tweets
Matt Stoller Profile picture
12 Mar
1. Ok I guess it's time to address the push for 'interoperability.' The main problem we have with big tech is they are too powerful. Would mandating they interconnect their systems with competitors break this power? No. The CEO of Mapbox made it clear when he testified.
2. Mapbox is interoperable with Google Maps. But that didn't stop Google from threatening Mapbox's customers and bundling its products to destroy competition. These platforms are simply not governable in their current size and scope.
3. Businesspeople are terrified of these firms. I hear from them all the time. Facebook killed Wired's traffic after Wired did a negative story on Zuck. Claimed it was a glitch. Does anyone actually expect Mark Zuckerberg to stop trying to dominate?
Read 13 tweets
Matt Stoller Profile picture
11 Mar
1. No Substack isn't a platform and no it's nothing like Google/FB/Spotify, etc. It could become like them, but right now it is simply a neutral service provider to content creators. It's like a magazine distributor.
2. There are few mechanisms for 'lock-in' for either users or writers. Users are using email, and it's as easy to receive email from anyone. Writers can port their lists if they want (though the financial data is probably a bit trickier).
3. There are no algorithms and there's no amplification. It's just a useful way for writers to communicate with readers, and to get paid from people who want to buy their content.
Read 6 tweets
Matt Stoller Profile picture
11 Mar
1. Ok, I'm going to tell a quick story about how Republican Senator @SenToomey is sabotaging the GOP agenda on big tech and China. It's a subtle story, but here's how he's doing it. Last year, Trump's FTC filed suit to break up Facebook. But it wasn't just a GOP move.
2. In fact, GOP commissioners @FTCPhillips and @CSWilsonFTC voted *against* the suit. The Republican Chair Joe Simons, plus Democrats @chopraftc and @RKSlaughterFTC, voted for it. So it was 3-2 'break 'em up.' And Facebook then banned Trump and conservatives.
3. The suit is the result of FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra's work, who has a track record of helping honest businesses. Example: Chopra stood for Made in USA labels over Chinese counterfeiters when his GOP colleagues did not. The GOP stance angered Trump. nytimes.com/2019/04/17/us/…
Read 13 tweets
Matt Stoller Profile picture
5 Mar
I love Washington, DC, both living here and the symbols of democracy. I went around the city yesterday to look at fencing and security. We have ruined neighborhoods and the physical beauty of Congress and the White House.
After changing the name of the lovely park in front of the White House from Lafayette Park to Black Lives Matter Park, they closed off public access. And took all the BLM signs down.
I've lived in DC for fifteen years, and I've seen more and more of the Capitol closed off with barricades, fences, scanners, and men with guns. Now entire formerly open and lovely streets are blocked off, for *no reason* except no leader wants to overrule bureaucrats.
Read 4 tweets
Matt Stoller Profile picture
4 Mar
1. So something extraordinary happened today on the anti-monopoly front. And not where you'd expect. Not in Congress. Or at the Federal level. Or in Europe.

But in Arizona.

Some legislators stood up to Apple and Google. And they won. This is the story.

mattstoller.substack.com/p/apple-threat…
2. Google and Apple are monopolies who control what is on your phone. Together they have 99% of the smartphone market. And they both charge high prices to app makers for the right to sell through their app stores. Apple made $64B from this tollbooth. cnbc.com/2021/01/08/app…
3. It’s basically impossible to sell mobile apps without going through the Apple/Google app stores, so they charge high prices - 30% of the take. Credit cards charge 2-3% to a merchant for access to a payment network. That's ten times Visa/MC, and Visa/MC are really greedy!
Read 20 tweets

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