The Big Tech debate is often aired in the rhetoric and phraseology of “censorship” and “speech,” but the better way to view the debate is through the lens of sovereignty and republican self-governance. When it comes to the Big Tech wars, the most fundamental question is a version of “who decides?”: Who, that is, will watch the watchmen?
The collapse of the “public”-“private” distinction, at least in the context of the Big Tech robber barons, resolves the question. We the People must decide; We the People must watch the watchmen. The rules by which the 21st-century public square operates cannot be written in private by shadowy Birkenstock-wearing computer science Ph.D. dweebs.
The underlying issues here are far too fundamental to our republic and our way of life. We must write the rules; we must reclaim our sovereignty from the woke titans of industry champing at the bit to impose an American social credit system.
If Big Tech can sway an election and ban a president of the United States, there is nothing it cannot do. All policy options must remain on the table to put Big Tech in its place once and for all.
I’ve been thinking a lot about this, since Elon Musk willingly went to war on the side of Ukraine. I keep asking, “Can they DO that?”
BTW, This isn’t another HBiden story. It’s just the best example, next to banning Trump, a sitting POTUS from online digital communication platforms. I am beginning to see megacorporations as old timey City States. Wild times. 