Republican VP pick J.D. Vance calls for Google breakup over CENSORSHIP activities
Technology experts and citizens who use tech devices have become more concerned about how Big Tech and startups will “control” their lives soon. It may even be a reason for the need to have an “expert” in the White House who understands these concerns.
This is not the first time that Vance has criticized Google, posting on X in February that it was “time to break the tech firm up.” Vance is a former tech investor and venture capitalist turned critic of the tech giant. (Related: VP nominee JD Vance calls for breaking up Google.)
Vance spent less than five years in Silicon Valley’s tech industry, but the connections he made with tech billionaire Peter Thiel and others became crucial to his political ascent. Thiel has donated a record-breaking amount of money to support Vance in the Ohio Republican Senate primary.
The case for Google spin-off has been talked about in recent years from different angles. Vance focuses on the danger of such large entities censoring and controlling speech.
Vance: “I don’t want Google to censor American information”
Vance said he is going after Big Tech companies that monopolize what people want to say.
“I don’t want Google or a billionaire that controls Google that’s in bed with China to be able to censor American information and that’s exactly what they’ve done,” he added. He also mentioned the anti-trust lawsuit against Google launched during Trump’s first term in office, noting that they both “look at this in the same way.”
Speaking of the difference between “Small Tech” and “Big Tech,” Vance singled out the monopolistic power the latter has to control some key elements, such as Google’s digital advertising power versus that of Elon Musk’s X.
“I don’t think that Elon Musk has any monopoly – he’s not using his company to try to destroy competitors,” Vance remarked, explaining the importance of anti-trust initiatives around the technology sector.
In pushing for better anti-monopoly rules, Vance hopes the Trump presidency would achieve two goals: secure better-paid jobs at home and freedom of expression.
As for cryptocurrencies, Vance, like Trump, wants to avoid overindulgent regulatory measures. Earlier this year, he criticized the approach of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler during a Y Combinator event called “RemedyFest.”
Some reports see these policy points as appealing to several Silicon Valley actors, which, after all, isn’t uniformly left – although its biggest players seem to be.
But Vance’s messages, particularly around cryptocurrencies, seem to augur well with venture capitalists and the likes of Musk, who are willing to put their money where their mouth is and support the Trump-Vance ticket with large campaign contributions.
Vance wants to see technology used in ways that allow the citizens to speak their minds, which means citizens with the freedom to speak their minds, censorship by Big Tech be damned.
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