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Sep 8 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
The answer is no, they won't. We need rules to stop targeted ads, and lots of antitrust law to break up big tech. This is one piece. And in Australia, the #JCPA-like law forced big tech to bargain fairly with the news and now journalist there is flourishing.
What is actually wild is how @mattfwood and his colleagues are weighing in on a bill about advertising when they have literally no idea how any of these markets work, and simply oppose for-profit news on principle.
And look, I don't mind those who oppose for-profit news and wish that America only had a public interest news ecosystem. I disagree with that premise. But if that's what you think, don't attack a bill that will redress advertising bargaining imbalances under false pretenses.
I'm so tired of the cocoon of ignorance. For instance, here's a recent story in the Wall Street Journal Google about using its bargaining power to underpay news publishers. If you pay attention to media markets, this is the kind of story you'd know about. wsj.com/articles/googl…

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More from @matthewstoller

Matt Stoller Profile picture
Sep 9
1. There's something missing from the left's view of finance. Since the Fed started tightening financial conditions, housing prices have begun coming down and now rent increases are slowing. twincities.com/2022/09/07/st-…
2. Those prices aren't coming down because people have lost their jobs, but because those sectors are heavily financialized and the Fed's loose conditions boosted asset prices. Yet the left has largely supported the Fed's choice to boost those prices.
3. Loose financial conditions are a *deliberate* strategy by the Fed to boost the fortunes of the wealthy. Here's Fed Vice Chair Don Kohn saying that years ago, but it hasn't changed. federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy… Image
Read 8 tweets
Matt Stoller Profile picture
Sep 8
The Senate is now marking up the bill that would let publishers band together and bargain with big tech. Live-streamed here. #jcpa judiciary.senate.gov/meetings/09/08…
"Social media has lowered the cost of being an a-hole." - Senator John Kennedy
As one would expect, @SenMikeLee opposes the #JCPA. He says that the 'politicization of news' has already happened because of the introduction of the bill.🙄
Read 11 tweets
Matt Stoller Profile picture
Sep 8
Most people don't understand the news business model, so they don't recognize that there's a massive bargaining imbalance between publishers and Google. Look at this, Google won't negotiate to pay enough for the news. wsj.com/articles/googl…
One of the false claims about the new bargaining bill is that it would change copyright law and require a tax for linking to the news. But Google is willing to pay to feature news articles. Just not very much. Copyright is a red herring.
The reason I'm so excised about the bill that would force Google to bargain with publishers is because the bad faith criticisms illustrate exactly what I've claimed for a long time. Certain parts of the left are pro-monopoly and pro-concentration. mattstoller.substack.com/p/should-we-sa…
Read 4 tweets
Matt Stoller Profile picture
Sep 8
I wrote up how Australia is saving its newspapers, and why a bill to do the same thing in the U.S. is so controversial on the left. mattstoller.substack.com/p/should-we-sa…
I really enjoyed writing this piece, because it gets into some important and nitty gritty ideological disagreements within the left on the problem of monopoly. mattstoller.substack.com/p/should-we-sa…
Populists want to promote lots of news diversity by attacking Google's consolidation of ad markets. But for some groups, like Free Press, Google's consolidation of ad markets is a *solution* not a problem. It solves what they really dislike, which is a for-profit media.
Read 8 tweets
Matt Stoller Profile picture
Aug 31
1. The anger at student debt relief has a backstory. Those of us who worked on financial/foreclosure policy during the Obama era were horrified by the the WH's rigid ideological thinking around debt relief. Larry Summers helped destroy faith in America. prospect.org/economy/why-ob…
2. The basic problem, as @ddayen and @owenslindsay1 note, was that Summers et al believed, like the Tea Party, that homeowners threatened with foreclosure didn't deserve relief. Unlike Wall Street, little people are subject to the sanctity of contract for fear of 'moral hazard.'
3. It got so bad that banks were fraudulently foreclosing on homes, but the Obama WH were mocking these victims privately as deadbeats. Truly rancid thinking. Then the Obama economists wondered why the economy didn't come back after 2011.
Read 10 tweets
Matt Stoller Profile picture
Aug 30
One of the more insanely monopolized parts of the American economy is payments. Credit cards suck up around a quarter trillion in revenue annually, they are the second highest cost for most businesses, and VISA/Mastercard even screw up monetary policy.
mattstoller.substack.com/p/the-cantillo…
The payments mess is particularly bad in America. Throughout much of Europe, China, Africa, and Brazil, payments are quick and efficient. mattstoller.substack.com/p/the-cantillo…
And yes, it's a monopoly problem. The failure of crypto to even remotely dent the payments fiasco shows that what we need is public policy. Fortunately, that's starting to happen. mattstoller.substack.com/p/the-cantillo…
Read 5 tweets

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