Can Silicon Valley’s Pro-Antitrust Congressman Navigate His Monopoly-Friendly District?

Posted by New York Magazine

Can Silicon Valley’s Pro-Antitrust Congressman Navigate His Monopoly-Friendly District?

By Tess Townsend

It shouldn’t have been surprising when Ro Khanna, the newly elected representative of California’s 17th congressional district, said the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission should review the potential impact on jobs and wages of Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods. Khanna, 41, has emerged in his first congressional term as one of the loudest voices on antitrust and economic competition issues, and the proposed merger between Amazon and Whole Foods had attracted the attention of anti-monopoly activists worried about the combination of a major grocery chain and Amazon’s automation and delivery infrastructure.

But it was surprising, mostly because of where Khanna’s district is located: Silicon Valley. While Amazon isn’t headquartered in Khanna’s state, its big-tech peers (and their employees) are housed in and around his district — and if there’s any industry you’d expect to be wary of antitrust talk, it’s tech. Google, Facebook, and Apple have all been accused of being monopolies. In many ways, the growing antitrust movement is antithetical to the business culture of the tech industry. Monopolies have been described as inevitable in Silicon Valley, or at least a common outcome, and even desirable. The Valley’s libertarian skepticism of government regulation, combined with its unrestrained idealism, has made it easier for tech people to believe monopolies are natural and good.

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