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1. The GOP has been aggressive about big tech, at least rhetorically. Clarence Thomas, for instance, called Google a monopoly twice last week. But there's also resistance, with some Republican using heated rhetoric in public but opposing action. https://mattstoller.substack.com/p/why-is-clarence-thomas-attacking
2. Tomorrow is when we get to see who is serious. There will be a symbolic vote on the most important work on big tech that has happened in our political system, a vote on whether the Judiciary Committee will adopt its investigative report on big tech. https://judiciary.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=4500
3. The report is the result of a 16-month investigation of Google, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook, more than 1.3 million docs reviewed, hundreds of interviews, and 7 hearings. It was done in a bipartisan way. It was groundbreaking.
But there's a problem. https://mattstoller.substack.com/p/congress-gets-ready-to-smash-big
But there's a problem. https://mattstoller.substack.com/p/congress-gets-ready-to-smash-big
4. Originally, Republicans @CollinsforGA and @RepKenBuck and Democrats @RepJerryNadler and @davidcicilline teamed up to do the investigation. But Collins left and @Jim_Jordan took over his slot.
And Jordan didn't want the investigation to happen.
And Jordan didn't want the investigation to happen.
5. @Jim_Jordan was disruptive in general to the important investigation of big tech, to the point he irritated Tucker Carlson. It's because Jordan is largely political, and opposed changes to antitrust law.
But he's since come around, sort of.
But he's since come around, sort of.
6. Since late last year, Jordan has decided he wants to break up Google. I gave @Jim_Jordan a hard time last year because I didn't think he was serious, but at the hearing last month he was one of the few members to raise break-ups.
7. The number one obstacle to taking on big tech and corporate power is distrust between the parties. It's not the only obstacle, by any means, but it is significant. And the big tech report is out there as a Democrat-led initiative with significant GOP support.
8. The report has 400+ pages of findings drawn from businesspeople afraid of retaliation, deep market analyses, and oversight of enforcement failures by both parties. It is *astonishingly great work,* a roadmap to taking apart big tech power. https://judiciary.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=3429
9. The report recommends break-ups, nondiscrimination rules, changes to monopolization law, private rights of action, merger law, and common carriage regulation. Some Republicans agreed with the findings, but put forward different recommendations. Great! https://buck.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/rep-buck-pens-antitrust-report-presents-third-way-take-big-tech
10. The rumor is @Jim_Jordan is going to oppose the report entirely, and try to get the GOP in the House Judiciary to oppose adopting it. Jordan doesn't do bipartisanship, and some of his staff is friendly to Google. To be clear, this is purely a symbolic vote. But it matters.
11. There's an opportunity here, a rare one, for @Jim_Jordan. His committee, in a bipartisan way, has put forward a big serious plan to take on big tech. For political reasons, last year he didn't like it. But things can change. https://twitter.com/matthewstoller/status/1288315349558067200
12. Since Jordan's hesitancy last year, Donald Trump filed an antitrust case against Google, and one against Facebook. Texas AG Ken Paxton has one against Google. Arizona Republicans took on Apple. Clarence Thomas came out for common carriage! https://mattstoller.substack.com/p/why-is-clarence-thomas-attacking
13. So this moment is an opportunity for @Jim_Jordan to actually do something meaningful about big tech power. He is interested in the problem, if for no other reason than purely for political reasons. It's why he asked @FTCPhillips about it. https://mattstoller.substack.com/p/noah-phillips-and-the-political-collapse
14. So it's up to @Jim_Jordan. Take on big tech in a meaningful way and support the report, with his own dissenting views. Or do his best tomorrow to blow up the best shot at taking on big tech in years by showing lobbyists that nothing's going to move through his committee.
