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More from @matthewstoller

Matt Stoller

@matthewstoller

20 Apr

https://twitter.com/chopraftc/status/1384511133999112192

"While the FTC is quick to bring down the hammer on small businesses, companies like Google know that the FTC is simply not serious about holding them accountable."

🔥🔥🔥

https://twitter.com/chopraftc/status/1384511133999112192

"First, we must make clear that FTC orders are not suggestions. Google isn't the only repeat offender. In 2012, after the FTC finalized an order with Facebook on privacy abuses, the company violated the agreement almost immediately – and continued
violating it again and again."

Senate Commerce Committee hearing now with FTC commissioners. commerce.senate.gov/2021/4/strengt…

Read 9 tweets

Matt Stoller

@matthewstoller

18 Apr

https://twitter.com/ChaseMadar/status/1383469385466056707

The US is so much better than anywhere else on this front it’s not funny. I know people think Germany has ‘dealt with their past’ but German self-reflection is mostly a performative bad joke.

https://twitter.com/ChaseMadar/status/1383469385466056707

I don’t get the constant reflexive loathing of America as a nation. It’s weird. This is a good place with a good people.

The reason Germany is so ‘good at self-reflection’ is because the US and USSR utterly destroyed their military and occupied their nation for years after they caused TWO WORLD WARS. It’s not as if they woke up one day and said ‘let’s be better people.’

Read 4 tweets

Matt Stoller

@matthewstoller

15 Apr

Ok the House Judiciary committee is marking up the antitrust big tech report.

@RepAndyBiggsAZ

Now @RepAndyBiggsAZ tries to attach an amendment on reforming Section 230 to the big tech report because of attacks on conservatives.

Ugh. Section 230 is handled in a *different committee.*

This committee handles *breaking up big tech.*

There is clearly anti-conservative bias, but it is complex. They kicked Donald Trump off of Twitter, Facebook, etc, and stripped Parler of cloud services. Breaking up big tech will help that. There is no reason for either side to fight over this.

Read 17 tweets

Matt Stoller

@matthewstoller

13 Apr

1. The GOP has been aggressive about big tech, at least rhetorically. Clarence Thomas, for instance, called Google a monopoly twice last week. But there's also resistance, with some Republican using heated rhetoric in public but opposing action. mattstoller.substack.com/p/why-is-clare…

2. Tomorrow is when we get to see who is serious. There will be a symbolic vote on the most important work on big tech that has happened in our political system, a vote on whether the Judiciary Committee will adopt its investigative report on big tech. judiciary.house.gov/calendar/event…

3. The report is the result of a 16-month investigation of Google, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook, more than 1.3 million docs reviewed, hundreds of interviews, and 7 hearings. It was done in a bipartisan way. It was groundbreaking.

But there's a problem. mattstoller.substack.com/p/congress-get…

Read 14 tweets

Matt Stoller

@matthewstoller

8 Apr

@Diddy

1. @Diddy is making a populist argument. He's not just asking for black representation but black *ownership.* And ownership matters. It's a different and more fundamental claim than how progressives tend to think about social justice.

https://twitter.com/Diddy/status/1380145382974443520

@Diddy

2. @Diddy is also taking a swipe at Comcast when he says "It’s disrespectful that distributors refuse to carry Black-owned media brands in an era where our impact and influence is undeniable." revolt.tv/news/2021/4/8/…

@Diddy

3. I wrote up a piece on black ownership in the cable business, the first major media business emerging after the Civil Rights movement. @Diddy is an important part of the story, as is Comcast's monopolization. prospect.org/power/remote-c…

Read 5 tweets

Matt Stoller

@matthewstoller

7 Apr

1. Joe Biden has made a stark break from the recent Democratic past, He has decided that we need a government. But he hasn't decided *who* should run it.

I wrote up the essential choice.

He can do the New Deal. Or he can defer to McKinsey.
mattstoller.substack.com/p/keep-mckinse…

2. Biden just put forward a $2T infrastructure bill. It will expand broadband, repair bridges using “cleaner cement,” upgrade ports, subsidize semiconductor factories, etc, all with inputs “made in America and shipped on U.S.-flagged, U.S.-crewed vessels.” whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/…

3. Biden wants to be FDR, not Obama. One important question is whether it’s actually possible to spend that amount of money on so many things without immense amounts of corruption or waste. The public sector is battered and weak.