Corporations are bowing down to Trump

With feelings of revenge

„Big Tech“ (equivalent to Silicon Valley) was loyal to the Democrats for many years and had mixed experiences with the often unpredictable populist, who was driven by personal feelings of revenge, during the Republican’s first term in office (2017 to 2021).

Just one example: When Amazon lost the race for a major contract from the US Department of Defense for cloud computing worth tens of billions in 2019, the founders were immediately affected Jeff Bezos associated. As the owner of the capital’s Washington Post newspaper, which consistently reports critically about Trump, Bezos had fallen from grace; This is also why he gave his editors an election recommendation before the most recent election (which is based on Kamala Harris would have resulted in).

This time, led by Tesla boss and presidential chief advisor Elon Muskthe climate must be cleaned up from the start – “big tech bends the knee,” wrote a US media, the big internet and data companies are bowing down to the 78-year-old Trump.

Antitrust proceedings

Too much is at stake. Almost all “giants” are threatened by antitrust proceedings that could break them up. Even if, as Musk is already trumpeting, the only 35-year-old but extremely determined head of the FTC, Lina Khan, should be “fired soon,” the mega-companies cannot be safe from Trump’s whims.

Back in the summer, Trump complained that Meta/Facebook in particular favored the Democrats on their platforms. Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg he even threatened to go to prison.

When it comes to search engine monopoly Google, Trump has formed the opinion that their algorithms prefer to spit out anti-stories about him. The fact that the current government wants to break Google’s monopoly on Internet searches and force the company to sell its dominant Chrome browser plays into Trump’s hands.

In a recent speech to the Chicago Economic Club, he said that breaking up major U.S. tech companies would only end up helping China. For a “certain concession”, according to US media, Trump could pull the plug on the antitrust proceedings launched at the last minute by the Biden administration, which will not receive a verdict until the summer of 2025 at the earliest.

It won’t be a happy sleigh ride. Trump’s new designated boss at the communications authority FCC, Brendan Carrsending a warning shot to the bosses of Apple, Meta, Alphabet/Google and Microsoft. He complained about an “unprecedented increase in censorship” on the major Internet portals. Elon Musk, head of the communication portal X, which has mutated into a Trumpian echo chamber, was expressly excluded from Philippika.

Away with shackles

It is also Musk who pushes the industry’s overarching interest forward: deregulation. The technology leaders would be delighted if Trump, unlike Europe, took off the shackles of artificial intelligence (AI). Specifically: It is expected that a corresponding regulation from Joe Biden will be withdrawn. Plus economic restrictions against China, for example on chip exports, so that the lead can be maintained.

To ensure that the “big ones” can absorb promising start-ups in the future, antitrust requirements for mergers and acquisitions should be relaxed. Google & Co. believe that Trump can be treated with respect and praise. The fact that the president-elect is suddenly a fan of crypto currencies and no longer wants to radically cut the controversial Chinese video app Tiktok is due to this “strategy of embrace,” say tech lobbyists on Washington’s K Street. Alone, it always took two to hug…