Sen. Cruz (R-TX) railed against Big Tech’s unfettered power and reminded Democrat senators that Big Tech is an unreliable friend that could turn against the left without warning.
During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday, Cruz urged his Democrat colleagues to consider Big Tech’s immense power over the flow of news and discussion. “Big Tech exercises a concentration of power that I think is unknown in the history of mankind,” Cruz said. He later added that “whether you agree or disagree with the speech they’re silencing, the idea that we would cede monopoly control of public discussion in America to three or four billionaires in Silicon Valley – modern-day American oligarchs – is profoundly dangerous.”
He referred to Big Tech’s “abuse of power,” pointing to the platform’s ability to profit from shared media that it didn’t create and online censorship:
“Big Tech’s abuse of power is not limited to the exercise of market power. They also abuse their power mightily in the public square,” Cruz said. “More and more, they are nakedly and brazenly engaging in censorship, silencing views they don’t like.”
The senator also cautioned Democrats that their alliance with Big Tech companies could shatter at a moment’s notice. “Right now, it so happens the views that they’re silencing are right of center but there’s no guarantee that will continue,” Cruz said.
Directly addressing Democrat senators, he later added, “you might agree with [Big Tech companies] today, but if they have the arbitrary power to decide tomorrow they disagree with you and so your views, what you have to say, have to be silenced, that is, I think, incredibly dangerous.”
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