As we observed at its outset, the Big Government China Virus shutdown of the US economy was going to be exceedingly awful for small business – but very, VERY good for Big Business.
And so it has been….
Big Tech Goes on Shopping Spree, Brushing Off Antitrust Scrutiny
Big Tech Spent Big Money in 2021 on Lobbying, Buying Up Competition
But of course: As Big Tech was buying many thousands of companies – in the largest consolidation of market power in human history? They were also buying ever more control of Big Government – and all of Big Government’s DC attendants.
Big Tech, Big Cash: Washington’s New Power Players
Big Tech Goes Big on Lobbying Efforts
How Much Money Does Big Tech Give Out to Think Tanks?
Shocker: It’s lots.
Which Conservative Groups Take Big Tech Money?
Shocker: It’s lots.
Why Is It So Hard to Regulate Big Tech?
Asked – and answered….
Big Tech, Facing Congressional Scrutiny, Continues to Flex Its Lobbying Power
But Big Tech doesn’t face “Congressional scrutiny” – Big Tech faces Congressional scrutiny THEATER. Congressmen and Senators pound tables, issue press releases, make remarkably un-scintillating TV and radio appearances, hold hearings – and even occasionally file legislation.
But it’s all a really bad high school musical. Nothing substantive ever actually happens. No laws actually pass. And that’s because DC’s alleged representatives of We the People – actually represent Big Tech.
Tulsi Gabbard Explains How Big Tech Owns Congress
Dobbs: Big Tech ‘Owns Our Congress’
Nearly Every Lawmaker Overseeing Privacy, Antitrust Issues Received Big Tech Money In 2020
Oh: And, of course, DC’s denizens cash more than just campaign checks. They certainly knew who would benefit from their unconstitutional pandemic lockdowns – and they got in very early on their Big Tech (and Big Pharma) gravy train they were driving.
Congress Invests Big in Pharmaceutical, Tech Stocks – April 27, 2020
So DC never actually does anything Big Tech doesn’t want. And because most Big Tech companies make most of their money by mass-collecting our digital data – and then mass-monetizing it….
Why Can’t Congress Pass Federal Data Privacy Legislation?
Why Congress Can’t Seem to Fix This 30-Year-Old Law Governing Your Electronic Data
Asked – and answered.
All of the idiocy above also explains the idiotic continued existence of Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act (CDA). Even more idiotic – when you consider most of the CDA not related to Section 230 was immediately dumped by the Supreme Court in 1997.
Why does Section 230 – the ONLY Internet law on the books – still exist, you ask?
How Did Big Tech Get So Big? Massive Government Cronyism – Like Section 230
Why Congress Is Never Going to Fix a Legal Shield That Big Tech Loves
What is Section 230, you ask?:
“(I)nternet companies – everything from social media platforms to online retailers to news sites – are generally not liable if a user posts something illegal.”
Which is the biggest Big Government cronyism in the history of government cronyism:
“Speaking of unfair…behold Section 230. Which gives Big Tech companies blanket amnesty from libel, slander, and intellectual property lawsuits resulting from third-party actions.
“This is anti-Fourteenth Amendment un-equal protection before the law – that no one else in the history of the country has ever received.
“If I owned a small neighborhood bar, I would have to purchase liability insurance to protect me should one third-party patron punch another third-party patron in my place. Or I would have to go to court and convince a judge or jury that it took place in my place – but not because of my place.
“Why do the biggest and richest companies in the history of Planet Earth get government-imposed blanket third-party-action immunity?”
And in practical reality, Section 230 was never actually necessary:
“If I unlawfully posted a full movie on YouTube? The movie house would contact YouTube – and YouTube would pull the movie. And then the movie house would never, never sue YouTube – because YouTube pulled the film.
“And if the movie house did sue, their idiotic case would be quickly dismissed by 99.9 percent of existing judges. Because most people with an IQ above nine know that YouTube isn’t responsible for third-party actions – so long as they reverse the offending third-party actions.
“So, there is ZERO actual need for Section 230.”
So the giant lie that Section 230 created “the Internet as we know it” – told for very many years by very many Big Tech mouthpieces – is a giant lie….:
Section 230 Created the Internet As We Know It. Don’t Mess With It
The Fight Over Section 230 – And the Internet As We Know It
All About Section 230, A Rule That Made the Modern Internet
Section 230: The ‘Most Important Law in Tech’
So very much bogus-ness.…:
“(T)rillions of dollars of Internet commerce will continue to take place without Section 230.
“And there are all sorts of things we should change as we know them. Government schools, for example.
“Section 230 did create the Internet COMMENT SECTION as we know it. Which is the Internet’s sewer. And social media is nothing more than glorified comment sections.”
Where in the world would we be without the Socratic wit of Internet comment sections?:
“‘But social media…will go away without Section 230.’
“If social media requires this much cronyism to even exist – and they have become TRILLION DOLLAR COMPANIES with the cronyism – then they should definitely go away.
“Big Tech social media isn’t a free market success story. It is a government cronyism prop-up story.
“Or are all Big Tech-Section 230 defenders – libertarians and conservatives included – now for government cronyism? Do we all now also support fake energy wind and solar subsides – without which fake energy would all go away?
“So it would seem.”
It is just this kind of absolute, absolutely ridiculous, anti-reality fealty DC has for sale.
And Big Tech has been buying huge….