“The real problem with Facebook is the monopoly power that they enjoy,” Hawley told the Washington Examiner in an exclusive interview. “Nobody would particularly care about Facebook’s censorious actions if there were rival competitors that actually had a legitimate shot at taking away customers, but there’s not.”
Facebook attracted harsh judgment from the Right on Wednesday when its oversight board voted to uphold a suspension on former President Donald Trump over content he posted nearly four months ago, in the minutes just before and after his supporters revolted in the U.S. Capitol.
MUST WATCH: GIANT EMPEROR TRUMP FIGURE AT ITALIAN FESTIVAL
Hawley, the author of The Tyranny of Big Tech, insisted companies like Facebook have profited from immunities in federal law — such as Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which Trump prompted lawmakers to abolish — that shield them from liability for leaving up certain kinds of content while allowing them to take down other kinds that they don’t like, such as conservative speech.
MUST WATCH: AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTER MOPS THE FLOOR WITH CLIMATE ACTIVISTS
Rather than enforce new rules on Big Tech, though, Hawley insisted antitrust laws should be used to break those entities up.
“I would prefer to break up the companies and allow competition to flourish in the market as opposed to regulating them as arms of the government,” Hawley said.
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON SET TO ESTABLISH "GAZA CAMP" AFTER BEING DENIED FOR LACK OF LEADERSHIP
“We need new laws, I think, that make it clear that these companies can’t consolidate whole industries under their control, that they can’t acquire any new companies, and they need to spin off their subsidiaries,” Hawley said.
THE ISRAELI RAFAH INVASION PLAN HAS THE WHITE HOUSE IN A TIZZY
Conservatives have long balked at government intervention in the free market — but Hawley said Republicans should see antitrust action as eventually serving the agenda of the free market.
“I’d see that as a market-reinforcing move, a pro-competition move,” he said.
YOU WON'T BELIEVE HOW MUCH RESIDENTS IN THESE STATES PAY IN LIFETIME TAXES
Twitter and Facebook dismantled Trump of his accounts after the former president made a series of statements on social media that critics described as an incentive to violence at the Capitol building.
Conservatives were frustrated at what they saw as the latest and most extreme example of Big Tech companies suppressing the speech of conservatives in the name of preventing misinformation or protecting public safety.
U.S. INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES' REPORT RELEASED: WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR NAVALNY'S DEATH?
“I think one of the reasons that the woke mentality and the canceled culture that it helps feed — why that is so troubling is because of the power that these companies have,” Hawley said. “The monopoly status of these companies makes their political interventions much more salient and much more troubling.”
Discover alternative ideas that will make you think
Engage in mind bending debate
Earn points, rise in rank, have fun
