The Tyranny of Big Tech | Josh Hawley
Missouri Senator Josh Hawley argues that big tech companies—Facebook, Google, Amazon, and Apple—represent the gravest threat to American liberty since the monopolies of the Gilded Age, and proposes a democratic, hopeful path forward. We are currently living in the era of Big Tech. Mega-corporations like Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple wield enormous market power and political influence, which they deploy to curb competition and turn massive profits. But their power is more than just money. They exert startling control over Americans’ daily lives by collecting more personal and private information from their users than any other company or government in the world. They regulate and influence the news and information consumers rely upon to make decisions about their families, politics, and health. They organize, manipulate, and direct the conversations that Americans are having. In The Tyranny of Big Tech, the current senator and former attorney general of Missouri argues that these companies, once hailed as the future of America, are now what ails the country. They are threatening America’s republican form of government. To reverse the concentration of these companies, which define our era, Senator Hawley argues that we must correct the mistakes of the progressive past and recover a more truly republican politics, a politics premised on the importance of the working man and woman. That means recovering the link between liberty and democratic participation. It means getting an economy that makes the working class strong, independent, and accountable to no one. It also means curbing the influence of corporate and political elites—and understanding how we got here in the first place. This book is a revelatory glance at our current policies and how they are failing most Americans every day. Offering clear and concise solutions, Senator Hawley investigates the overwhelming impact these companies have on our daily lives—and what we can do to control it.