redefined as a celebrated submission to Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai, Jack Dorsey, and Jeff Bezos, simply because they are not the government. In other words, the arguments are intentionally narrowed to sidestep a growing threat from mega-corporate power that rivals – and in some cases, arguably supersedes – that of the government. In doing so, the definition of “liberty” is reduced to living under the corporate tyranny of two or three companies that distort the flow of discourse in a free society, bend independent thought in one direction instead of many, alter voter behavior and thus the nature of free elections, impede market access for small competitors, and otherwise change the nature of the social order. It is a style of libertarianism so reductive that it seamlessly evolves into a corporatism that flips the American experiment on its head. Priority is given to the rights and liberties of corporate America to set the terms for how we, as a free people, will live together – over and above the free expressions, preferences, and independent choices exercised by Americans themselves, for whom this entire system was in fact built. Applauding and promoting this backwards order of things as merely the freest expression of the free market requires a studious non- acknowledgement of some fundamental facts about Big Tech, the government, and how free societies operate.
DISTORTING THE MARKETPLACE OF IDEAS Much of the ire toward Big Tech arises from the way in which they enforce against certain types of speech that occur on their platforms. For years, conservatives have pointed to examples that Big Tech companies treat right- of-center content differently, enforcing against narratives they do not like while amplifying others, all on ideological grounds. Both Right-leaning and Left-leaning libertarians have dismissed these claims as baseless anecdotes. But there is an increasing amount of evidence that such narrative control is routinely exercised. Google has suppressed conservative content and tweaked its algorithms in favor of big business over small. The major platforms have allied themselves with the World Health The definition of “liberty” is reduced to living under the corporate tyranny of two or three companies that distort the flow of discourse in a free society, bend independent thought in one direction instead of many, alter voter behavior and thus the nature of free elections, impede market access for small competitors, and otherwise change the nature of the social order.
American Consequences
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