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It begs the question whether Big Tech realizes that it essentially validates all of the arguments put forward for antitrust intervention. Too bad it took so long to get to this, but maybe the Speaking trial will provide the necessary catalyst.
And it certainly looks like Talking has a really good case here:
Speak, the alternative social media platform favored by the far-right, sued Amazon on Monday in response to its misrepresentation, alleging a violation of antitrust laws, breach of contract and interference in the company’s business relationship with the users.
The lawsuit seeks a temporary restraining order (TRO) against Amazon (AMZN) in a federal court and calls Amazon Web Services’ decision a “knockout” to Talk.
“Without AWS, Talking is over because it has no way to connect,” the complaint states. “And a delay in granting this TRO even for a day could also spell the end of Parler as President Trump and others move on to other platforms.
Parler’s lawsuit argues that Amazon illegally sought to restrict competition by eliminating a player from the market.
Second look for conservatives at net neutrality? To answer that question, be sure to read Jazz’s post yesterday on the Guardians’ Assault on Speaking. This now affects almost every Big Tech organization except Facebook, and that’s only because Facebook doesn’t have a Guardian status for Talk. Google and Apple both required content moderation on Talk to host its app in their stores, and that was before Amazon shut them down for the same issue.
In any other industry and in any other context, that would look a lot like… monopolistic behavior and collusion. he should prompt government action in relation to the Sherman Act, either to the Federal Trade Commission or to the Department of Justice, to determine whether such collusion has taken place. More importantly, it demonstrates the dangers of consolidation in any industry, but perhaps especially in the technology and communications industries.
ACLU attorney Ben Wizner warns the rulings have consequences, even though they are popular at the time. This goes beyond the Twitter purge involving Donald Trump and his supporters, which the ACLU had previously criticized, as it touches more deeply on issues of free speech and other civil liberties:
Here’s what ACLU attorney Ben Wizner told me, in full, about Talking’s disappearance because of AWS. pic.twitter.com/aIELab0kze
– Davey Alba (@daveyalba) January 11, 2021
Note the reference to “principles of neutrality”. The Trump administration gave up net neutrality regulations early in its term, which the Conservatives applauded. If these are recalculated to provide some sort of curb on this kind of de-mating – or even sold as such by the Biden administration – the Conservatives could end up cheering for their reimposition.
The real problem here is the let it go approach to consolidation in recent decades, and reluctance to grasp what this means to political power. I discussed for years this blind spot of the Right and what it would ultimately mean for access and influence. Speaking is the canary of the coal mine – and a harbinger of what’s to come, unless we start asserting ourselves on consolidation and dismantling mega-corporations.
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