“Big government” has historically been an enemy of conservatives, and the policy platform has centered on lower government spending, lower taxes, and a free market economy with minimal government intervention. But for some modern conservatives, a new enemy has emerged: “Big Tech.” These anti-Big Tech conservatives accuse big tech companies of suppressing free speech, eroding traditional conservative values, corrupting America’s youth, and promoting left-leaning ideology. . Many of these anti-technology conservatives are even willing to use the sledgehammer of big government, applied in capricious ways, to punish big tech companies, if necessary.
The core belief behind this conservative tech rush, or more generally a backlash against big tech companies and the Internet revolution, is that Big Tech promotes left-leaning ideology and silences dissent in government, media, and media. , in collusion with other liberal institutions, including academic institutions. From conservatives. For anti-technology conservatives, these actions are a threat to traditional conservative American values and must be stopped at all costs, even if it means a bigger and more powerful government.
Over the past few years, several notable conservative politicians have advocated anti-technology beliefs, including former president and current presidential candidate Donald Trump. Mr. Trump has a history of opposing Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a law that protects platforms and their users from liability for third-party content, which some conservatives believe could allow censorship by tech platforms. I think it should be done. The Trump administration also launched multiple antitrust lawsuits and investigations against big tech companies, a trend that continued under the Biden administration. This culminated in the presidential election, with both candidates Trump and Harris demonstrating hostility towards the tech industry.
The conservative tech rush stems from real concerns, including child safety, allegations of political bias in moderating social media content, and pressure from governments to censor online speech. But the policies anti-technology conservatives propose to solve technology problems and punish Big Tech come at significant costs to consumers, businesses, and the American economy. Bans on social media for children, government regulations on content moderation, attacks on Section 230, a strict privacy law with private rights of action, and aggressive antitrust laws raise concerns among conservatives. It is unlikely to be addressed and will instead cause further problems.
In fact, many of these proposed solutions are surprisingly similar to those proposed by anti-technology liberals, despite the opposing goals of conservatives and liberals in advocating for these changes. Similar. Liberals are hostile to platforms because they say they don’t police speech enough, while conservatives don’t like them because they take them down too much. This bipartisan technology clash has only one main goal. It’s about punishing Big Tech companies for not fully adhering to (conservative or liberal) values. This retaliatory idea is that conservatives would replace the innovative dynamism of the U.S. high-tech sector with crony capitalism if either conservatives or liberals decided it was okay to weaponize the government for political reasons. It violates the core principle of the rule of law. Moreover, this thinking leads to bad policy, especially when punishing Big Tech takes precedence over other goals such as innovation, economic growth, competitiveness with China, and consumer welfare.
Conservatives will find greater success by adhering to their core principles of free markets, limited government, and individual liberty. Rather than punish successful companies with capricious and punitive antitrust laws, expand government control over private systems and networks, or limit parental rights and responsibilities online, conservatives should We should be on the other side of these issues. For example, giving parents greater visibility and control over their children’s online activities, setting standards and transparency requirements for social media content moderation, and passing targeted federal data privacy laws. , policies such as focusing government oversight on specific business practices should be promoted. Harm consumers. This approach allows conservatives to address Big Tech issues while maintaining a light-touch approach at far less cost, in line with conservative values of small government.
