Conservative Conflict Over Big Tech | Eastern North Carolina Now

Kevin Daley of the Washington Free Beacon details a debate among conservatives about the future of Big Tech.

ENCNow
Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the John Locke Foundation. The author of this post is Mitch Kokai.

    Kevin Daley of the Washington Free Beacon details a debate among conservatives about the future of Big Tech.

  • A new lawsuit is inflaming tensions on the right between the powerful, business-friendly Koch political network and a rising coalition of populist conservatives pushing for a crackdown on Silicon Valley.
  • The lawsuit seeks emails and other communications between staffers at a Commerce Department tech agency and outside policy gurus who support the Trump administration's campaign to reign in social media behemoths like Facebook. Some of those targeted even include Koch allies who say the well-heeled and influential network is trying to scare partners into silence.
  • At the heart of the dispute is Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects companies like Twitter from lawsuits over content that appears on their platforms. Many Republicans, including President Trump, believe the shield should be amended or rescinded, citing bias on the part of social media giants. Pro-business elements like the Koch network say that reform would threaten innovation and free speech and that they're waging a determined fight against any changes.
  • "They are so ideological about this particular issue," said the Conservative Partnership Institute's Rachel Bovard, who is targeted in the lawsuit. "It's a shot across the bow to people that they work with."
  • The debate betrays the growing personal acrimony developing among Republicans over big tech. The Koch network commands tens of millions of dollars and serves as an important gatekeeper for conservative Washington. Its hard-knuckled approach to the Section 230 fight suggests a new level of bitterness that may divide Republicans well into the Biden administration.
  • Americans for Prosperity Foundation (AFPF), a political group bankrolled by libertarian powerbroker Charles Koch, filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit in federal court seeking communications from Adam Candeub and Nathan Simington, two recently departed staffers at a Commerce Department agency that helped craft President Trump's campaign against social media behemoths.

Go Back


Leave a Guest Comment

Your Name or Alias
Your Email Address ( your email address will not be published)
Enter Your Comment ( no code or urls allowed, text only please )




On the Overuse of ‘Scary’ To Describe Politics John Locke Foundation Guest Editorial, Editorials, Op-Ed & Politics Smaller Government Is a Better Answer Than Scrapping Electoral College


HbAD0

Latest Op-Ed & Politics

The existing School Board should vote to put this project on hold until new Board is seated
At least one person was shot and killed during an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump on Saturday at a political rally in Pennsylvania in which the suspected gunman was also “neutralized,” according to the U.S. Secret Service.
As everyone now knows, the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling to grant presidents immunity for "official acts" has given Donald Trump unlimited power to do literally anything he wants with zero consequences whatsoever.
President Joe Biden formally rejected on Monday a bill in Congress that would require individuals to show proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in elections for federal office.
Watch and be sensitive to the events which will possibly unfold in the coming days.

HbAD1

illegal alien "asylum seeker" migrants are a crime wave on both sides of the Atlantic
majority of board member are rubberstamps for liberal superintendant
like the old Soviet Union, Biden put DEI political officers in the military
ssick perverts running Deere sponsored homosexual event for 3 year olds

HbAD2

appoints new pro-cnesorship White House official
Those with access to President Joe Biden behind closed doors say that his condition is deteriorating at an accelerated rate

HbAD3

 
Back to Top