DEMS/GOP/TECHNOLOGY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump threatened to open a probe into whether Google is committing ‘treason.’ Sen. Bernie Sanders said he would push to break up Facebook, Google and Amazon. Sen. Ted Cruz took aim at Google in his campaign against alleged censorship of conservatives. And Democrats accused the internet giants of squelching competitors and slammed Facebook’s plans to offer a digital currency. And that was just Tuesday [7-16-19]. But for all the flak Silicon Valley was taking from across Washington, the tech companies maintain a major advantage: Despite their shared suspicion and growing distrust of the tech industry, Democrats and Republicans appear to hold little common ground on what the problem is and how to fix it. And that could mean the odds of legislative punishment in the near term remain low. The attacks Tuesday dealt with a hodgepodge of issues and sometimes-incompatible complaints, though often in withering terms, in particular at the morning Senate hearing where Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown called it ‘delusional’ for Facebook to expect people to trust the company with their wallets.”
–Cristiano Lima and John Hendel, “Washington rips Silicon Valley, but don’t expect much action,” Politico, July 16, 2019 9:45 pm