Among the dignitaries in Washington for President Trump’s inauguration earlier this year were a slew of executives from some of the world’s largest tech companies – from Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Apple’s Tim Cook to Mark Zuckerberg of Meta and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
The appearance of Silicon Valley’s elite raised eyebrows among some of the president’s most ardent supporters who remember how, just a short time ago, many of these same executives were supporting his opponent in the presidential race and facing accusations of censoring conservative voices on their platforms and search engines.
With the political tides on Pennsylvania Avenue having shifted – and many of these tech CEOs needing the federal government to approve blockbuster deals or drop Justice Department filings – it seems Silicon Valley is realizing that it’s time to atone for its sins.
Take Google, for example, which despite its continued denial of allegations of political bias and claims that it does not use fact-checking to influence search rankings, the evidence of their censorship of right-of-center voices, stories, and information on its platforms is clear to see — or, in the case of conservative voices appearing on its search results, not to see.
This is not a new storyline. Google has been accused of censoring conservative voices since 2017, when the nonprofit PragerU sued the company for purportedly violating its First Amendment rights by restricting its videos. Google eventually won that battle in court, and its victory seems to have emboldened the company to continue its censorship and suppression of conservative voices. Lawmakers at both the federal and state level have launched investigations and drafted legislation to rein in Google’s censorship.
President Trump himself has long accused Google of censoring conservative viewpoints and suppressing information about him.
During his first term in office, he signed an executive order aimed at curbing what he described as online censorship by social media platforms. In one of his first actions after being sworn in for his second term, Trump put his signature on Executive Order 14149, titled "Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship.” This order directed federal agencies to cease any collaboration with private entities, like Google, in censoring lawful speech and calls for investigations into past censorship activities.
In between those two executive orders, President Trump has filed a class-action lawsuit against Google, Facebook, and Twitter following his ban from their platforms. He accused Google of suppressing information about the July assassination attempt on him and threatened to prosecute Google if amid accusations that the company only displayed negative stories about him.
With President Trump back in the White House – and staunch critics of Google like Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in Congress – the president has the unique ability to do what lawmakers have failed to do for more than a decade: Hold Google accountable for its censorship of conservative voices.
While Sundar Pichai seems to realize there is a new sheriff in town who doesn’t kowtow to Big Tech’s bidding, President Trump needs to take an approach that is more stick and less carrot with Google.
This means not only investigating the company’s monopolistic practices but hitting them where it really hurts and making sure that the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission do not just rubber stamp deals that would benefit Google.
Look at Google’s agreement earlier this year to acquire the world’s largest cybersecurity unicorn, Wiz, for an all-cash deal worth a reported $32 billion. The deal comes at a time when Trump’s Justice Department is working to break up Google by forcing it to sell its Chrome browser after a judge found that Google illegally maintained a monopoly. The company is also embroiled in a separate ad-tech monopoly case brought by the U.S. government and is being investigated over whether it circumvented antitrust laws in an artificial intelligence licensing deal.
Given Google’s track record, President Trump’s administration should take a hard look at its deal with Wiz to not only guarantee free market competition and ensure Google has no ulterior motives at play.
Google and other Big Tech behemoths have gotten away with too much for too long — whether its silencing conservative voices or illegally driving out competitors. Now is the time for the Trump administration to let these companies know loud and clear: We won’t let you get away with it any longer.