Silicon Valley praised the victory of Democrat Joe Biden in the US presidential election, but hopes to meet the challenge of politicians from all stores in the face of concerns about the omnipotence of the tech giants.
“Big tech knows that Republicans and Democrats alike have complaints against the way the industry operates and are preparing for more oversight and regulation,” said Darrell West, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Center for Technology Innovation.
Antitrust, content moderation, immigration policy: there are several issues that firms such as Google, Apple, Facebook, and other Silicon Valley groups are preparing to tackle under the Biden administration.
Antitrust fight
The actions of the US authorities against the GAFA (acronym for Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple) for abuse of a dominant position will continue after Joe Biden takes office on January 20.
The process for the federal government and several states of the Union complaint filed in October against Google for attempting to illegally monopolize online searches and advertising could take years.
Apple, Facebook and Amazon, which are already subject to multiple legal proceedings, could also come under legal attack.
The leftmost wing of the Democratic Party would like to dismantle these groups.
But for Daniel Ives of Wedbush Securities, “since Republicans are likely to retain control of the Senate, investors rule out the possibility of major changes to antitrust laws being passed.”
However, relations between the White House and the internet giants are expected to be less tumultuous than under Republican Donald Trump, as evidenced by the enthusiasm of many leaders of the tech giants (Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Sheryl Sandberg etc) in congratulating Joe Biden after his win last week.