Conservatives, liberals unite against Silicon Valley

Posted by Politico

Conservatives, liberals unite against Silicon Valley

By Nancy Scola

The days of unqualified praise from Washington are over for the country’s biggest tech companies, whose size and power are increasingly drawing attacks from both the left and the right.

Democrats are condemning Facebook for allowing “fake news” and Russia-linked ads during the election, while conservatives accuse Google of silencing right-leaning viewpoints. President Donald Trump routinely accuses Amazon of dodging taxes, and right-leaning news organizations like Fox News and Breitbart have begun mocking Silicon Valley leaders as power-hungry and out of touch.

It’s a sharp change of fortune for the tech sector, which long drew bipartisan praise as an engine of economic growth and innovation — and saw politicians deferring to the industry on issues like digital encryption and how the internet should operate. Now, with Democrats talking tough about applying antitrust scrutiny to “Big Tech” and Republicans condemning internet firms for their snap judgments about who gets to say what online, tech is encountering unaccustomed hostility from the political class — and tighter regulation no longer seems a far-fetched scenario.

“The free ride Silicon Valley has benefited from is finally coming to an end, and I see that on both sides of the political spectrum,” said John Simpson, privacy project director at Washington-based Consumer Watchdog.

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