American Innovation and Choice Online Act Won't End Woke Social Media Codes

Twitter's decision to ban Donald Trump in January 2021 was bad for everyone, particularly for Twitter itself, which have reinforced the perception that they're fanatical "woke moralists" intent on enforcing their blasphemy codes than running a business.

Since then, its stock has plummeted from a two-year high of $77 a share to about half that.

Many conservatives — whether we learn from headlines, firsthand experience, or Project Veritas videos — have come to view Silicon Valley with mistrust and contempt, particularly ironic given that Big Tech owes its luxurious wealth to Reaganomics and the defense industry. However, the current proposed measures to address their political bias through government regulation are not the right way forward.

But many Republicans have been lured into supporting such regulation, because it seems like the quick, easy way to deal with the hostility (real or perceived) coming out of Big Tech.

Conservatives have a number of problems with social media companies and Big Tech at large, yet signing onto socialist power grab legislation sponsored by progressives is not the solution. The scary one is the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, a bill pushed by liberal Sens. Any Klobuchar, D-Minn., Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and others.

This cadre lured many understandably upset Republicans like Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., into supporting this cause. Republicans think they're sticking it to Big Tech, but what they're really doing is handing the reins of our nation's leading technology companies over to Democrat bureaucrats in Washington.

The Klobuchar legislation will give great power to unelected government officials to become the de facto bosses for our most successful companies. Move over Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg — public figures who, in the long run, are probably easier to hold accountable than invisible government policymakers.

If S.2992 passes, consumers should brace for a management style of these companies resembling the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), a quasi-government agency that has lost tens of billions in recent years because it refuses to come up with a reasonable business model.

Also, consumers should expect to lose all the great services we all take for granted today, like Amazon Prime service.

Certainly there are reasons to be angry with Big Tech. The fact that Twitter banned Trump but not the Taliban is infuriating. The Chinese-owned TikTok has clearly served as a tool of cultural warfare. Google seems more concerned about helping the Chinese Communist Party to build its digital empire than what will happen when the CCP starts expanding its military empire.

But these are national security issues, not First Amendment issues. Democrats should address these now — they won't — but Republicans will address them when they have all the gavels next year.

There's no reason to hit Silicon Valley over the head with S.2992 now.

It can be hard to say the free market will deal with Silicon Valley when it seems like it's a cadre of all-powerful non-state actors, but it will and they aren't. Netflix wisely released an internal memo telling the ultrawoke to quit if they feel the company isn't dogmatic enough for their standards. Apparently, the market share the company has hemorrhaged is a little more concerning to company owners than pushing a far-left agenda.

Sen. Rand Paul, R. Ky., attacked the bill even while denouncing YouTube for banning his videos about COVID. The Wall Street Journal wrote that, with all the damage the Biden administration has done to our economy, "The last thing America needs is a new regulatory shock from Congress.”

When Sen. Paul and the WSJ say something's bad, it's bad.

The so-called progressive left wants to use antitrust law to transform America into a government-centered economy where market forces must bend to the will of federal government officials. The government wants access to information that has been mostly voluntarily given to these companies while forcing Americans to change their behavior.

Any conservative who thinks supporting antitrust ideas will magically remove social media companies' bias has been tricked. When these companies really start feeling the heat, they'll come begging Donald Trump and others for content.

Jared Whitley is a long-time politico who has worked in the U.S. Congress, White House and defense industry. He is an award-winning writer, having won best blogger in the state from the Utah Society of Professional Journalists (2018) and best columnist from Best of the West (2016). He earned his MBA from Hult International Business School in Dubai. Read Jared Whitley's reports — More Here.