U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) has published an opinion piece arguing that major technology companies, termed “Big Tech,” have amassed dangerous levels of power and must be broken up to restore control to the American people.
Writing in the context of recent antitrust lawsuits against Google and Meta, Hawley contends that the nation’s fundamental question is whether corporations or citizens will ultimately govern.
In his piece, Hawley recounts a meeting with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg five years ago, noting his skepticism even then about the company’s impact on free speech, data privacy, and the well-being of children. He describes Zuckerberg’s apparent shock when he suggested breaking up the company and returning control to users, seeing it as clear evidence that tech leaders had “no such intentions.”
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Hawley characterizes the power held by companies like Meta and Google as exceeding that of any corporation in history and argues that this concentration of power shifts the balance from “We the People,” as stated in the Constitution, towards an era where “We the Corporations” effectively hold governmental authority.
An example would be recent legal developments, such as the FTC’s antitrust suit against Meta regarding its acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram, and a federal judge finding Google liable for antitrust breaches related to its online advertising business, as welcome steps.
Hawley argues these cases highlight a deeper issue about control over the country.
Among the specific actions he cites as evidence of Big Tech’s overreach and harmful behavior are:
- Alleged interference in a federal election by suppressing reporting.
- Collaboration with the Biden administration on censoring views questioning vaccine mandates, masking, or DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion).
- Taking and selling users’ personal information without knowledge or consent.
- Designing products known to be addictive, particularly to children, and allegedly concealing information about the platforms’ negative impacts and presence of child sex abuse material.
Hawley asserts that the solution, though “not easy,” is “simple”: taking power from corporations and returning it to the people. He advocates for aggressive enforcement of antitrust laws, viewing the recent court cases as positive momentum, particularly the Google verdict which could impact their ad revenue.
Beyond antitrust action, Hawley calls for directly empowering citizens and proposes legislation that would allow Americans harmed by tech companies to sue, citing examples such as those who have been censored, parents whose children were victimized by online predators, or individuals whose data was taken without consent.
He states this would give Americans the same rights against tech companies that they have against other corporations, removing “special protections” for tech executives.
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Drawing a historical parallel, Hawley compares the current situation to the Gilded Age trusts like Standard Oil and the railroads. He references Theodore Roosevelt’s Republican Party breaking up the “robber barons” of that era and calls on modern Republicans to follow that example to ensure self-government.
Hawley concludes that reducing the power of tech companies would lead to greater free speech, more control over personal data, and dismantle what he describes as a “Big Tech-Big Government alliance” used for censorship.
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