End Big Tech’s free ride 

As the election draws closer and the stakes become clearer, we should not forget the outsized influence of Big Tech in our country.  

Not long ago, Facebook and Twitter emerged as key figures in U.S. elections when foreign propaganda, fake news and objectionable content became a part of the process. Since then, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and X have become embedded in the fabric of American society, affecting democracy itself.  

Everywhere we turn, there are ads, messages and promotions for products, positions, people and politicians — many of them dubious. While we should be wary of excess and abuse, it is nearly impossible to escape the ever-present reality and extensive reach of Big Tech in our society. Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google, sometimes referred to as Big Tech, have changed the world, but their business practices, sheer size and market dominance are a very big problem for society.  

Beyond elections, these companies have extraordinary influence and impact on what matters most in our daily lives. From what we watch, buy and do, Big Tech firms have untold access to our most sensitive health, financial and personal data, all of which comes at a small cost to individuals but a larger cost to society. And while individual Americans pay a price, Big Tech firms pay little or nothing at all. 

For years, we have been lulled into accepting Big Tech transgressions, largely because of all the free stuff they give us. In this new environment, we abide by a simple social contract: companies give us their goods and we give them our data. Scores of invisible intermediaries access and collate high volumes of data through tools and techniques unseen and unknown to most of us. Mystical algorithms and analytic technology allow Facebook and Google, among others, to track our searches, scan our email, cross-reference our contacts, and mine our data to deliver ads. And they make lots of money based on what we do online. 

Facebook and Google offer an opaque suite of free, easy and consumer-friendly apps that have become must-have accoutrements of modern communication. Who can imagine daily life anymore without email, social media and mobile music? Yet when consumers blithely accept those freebies, we consent to relinquishing our personal information and privacy as conditions of free and continued use. 

The breadth and depth of information amassed by those two companies alone surpasses everything collected by all retail, financial, media, healthcare, telcos, communications, utility, entertainment and nonprofit firms combined, and even by the U.S. government. 

But if that were not enough, Big Tech also rides for free on the coattails of many industries that it relies on to do business, including publishing, telecom and media, among others. And it does all these things without much federal regulation. 

When it comes to government and policy, Big Tech firms have held sway since the Clinton era, leveraging their largesse to thwart legislation, regulation and reform. They have been impervious to Washington’s conventions, conducting business with a sense of enlightened exceptionalism. They have marched to a different beat, different standards and different rules, flaunting their outsized fortunes in the face of heavily regulated legacy industries such as advertising, broadcasting, finance and telecom. 

When criticized, these companies have retreated behind the veneer of innovation, reminding critics of their importance to the global economy — all with impunity under Section 230. 

For many in Washington, Big Tech has become insufferable. There is fatigue and frustration over its failure to protect our data and respect our privacy. And there is a growing recognition that it is no longer the be-all, end-all for outsized growth. Even Big Tech pioneers and funders like Elon Musk have sounded the alarm on the potential societal risks of AI. Musk is leading the charge on what AI regulation should look like going forward.

Big Tech’s social impact — both good and bad — cannot be questioned, but its economic entitlement should be. While Congress has been blinded by Silicon bling in the past, it is time to recognize market realities. 

Beyond privacy and data security, we have seen that the lack of regulation on Big Tech leads to unfair advantages in the market. These firms seem to externalize costs onto society while internalizing tremendous profits. So, while Big Tech affects our lives as individuals, its effect on other industries is no less significant. 

Recent examples underscore the mandate for change. 

Firms like Amazon and Google have avoided paying publishers for the news and creative content they distribute, reaping advertising revenues in the billions while the creators of the content receive far less. 

Amazon, Google, Facebook and Netflix, for example, rely on broadband infrastructure to deliver their video streaming, social networking and cloud computing services. Yet they refuse to contribute to the Universal Service Fund, an established federal program that brings needed telecom services to low-income and rural Americans. Their reluctance to subsidize the cost and maintenance of the broadband infrastructure their services require shifts the burden not only onto telecom companies but also onto consumers. 

While Spotify and Apple Music, for example, pay royalties to music artists and record labels, artists often receive only a fraction of a cent per stream, which does not fairly compensate them for their work. Artists argue that despite the vast revenues generated by streaming services, the payouts to individual artists are meager, especially for independent musicians. 

Asking Big Tech firms to pay their fair share alongside industries they depend on is not partisan. It is principled.  

There is a fundamental imbalance between revenue and responsibility, which is evidence of a regulatory regime in need of repair. It is time for a regulatory reboot that balances innovation with regulation, growth with accountability, and profit with public good.  

We need a policy that Washington, D.C., can embrace as a cornerstone of competition. Big Tech’s free ride should come to an end with the advent of a new Congress and a new administration, whether Democrat or Republican. It is a policy mandate that transcends partisanship and politics and should be at the heart of our nation’s economic priorities.

Adonis Hoffman served in senior roles in Congress and at the Federal Communications Commission, and as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University.