Silicon Valley, we have a problem
1 messageEve Smith, Invisible Hand Strategies, LLC <[email protected]>
To: Jeff Bezos <[email protected]>, Mark Zuckerberg <[email protected]>,
Sundar Pichai <[email protected]>
CC: Tim Cook <[email protected]>, Reed Hastings <[email protected]>,
Satya Nadella <[email protected]>19 January 2018 at 17:Invisible Hand Strategies LLC Eve Smith^ <[email protected]>18 The EconomistJanuary 20th 2018
1With the political mood turning against digital giants, the world’s largest tech bosses are scrambling to understand what
could be in store. A note from their strategistBriefing
Dear Jeff, Mark and Sundar, if I mayI imagine your concern about the simmering tech backlash has grown
since we ran into each other in the desert in September. The heat
directed at your firms has certainly risen. Attached to this e-mail you
will find the full report I promised, analysing the grave political and
business risks that your firms face. I hope you will read everything I
am sending in full, and please do not distribute my work to your un-
derlings, as none of us want this e-mail to leak to the press.The takeaway is that it is looking more likely that one of you could end
up like the giant structure at Burning Man which the crowd torches,
watching with rapt attention as it burns down to ash.Things have been rough in Europe for a while. They are getting worse.
Having levelled a fine of $2.7bn against Google in 2017, the European
Commission’s Magrethe Vestager wants to go further. National gov-
ernments are also baring their teeth. In December Germany’s cartel
office accused Facebook of unfairly using its position to track internet
users. France has threatened to fine Facebook for sharing data be-
tween its various apps. Almost every day you get hammered for not
properly policing the content, including extremists’ videos, revenge
porn and fake news, that appears on your platforms.America is not the haven it was. Under Barack Obama tech was treated
as a dazzling national asset; he had your back. The candidates in2020, whoever they are, are likely to run on an anti-tech platform of
some sort. Democrats have already pledged to “crack down on cor-
porate monopolies”. The Republicans—besides hating you for being
coastal liberals desperate to promote your politically correct world-
view—have some business worries, too. Just look at how the Depart-
ment of Justice (DOJ) is trying to block AT&T’s acquisition of Time
Warner, a content company. I know they gutted net neutrality: but
that had more to do with hating everything Obama did than valuing a
light touch with the internet.Meanwhile a handful of state attorneys general, including Missouri’s,
have launched probes into Google. Any of these could spark a fire. The
federal antitrust case against Microsoft started after states investi-
gated the company’s conduct; Texas played a pivotal role in handi-
capping Standard Oil in the 1880s. The Sherman Act of 1890 followed
and by 1911—before the Clayton Act was even passed—John D. Rocke-
feller’s pride and joy, the greatest company of its day, was lying on
the floor in 34 parts. Knowing that a consultant in Washington refers
to Amazon, Facebook and Google as “Standard Commerce, Standard
Social and Standard Data” should make you shudder.Rockefeller was once the richest man in the world. Don’t think that
crown will help whichever of you is wearing it when the music stops.
The fact that four of the five most valuable publicly traded firms in theCoping with techlash