Breaking Up Big Tech

April 27, 2021
|In Uncategorized
|By adriel

Big tech companies Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, and Google not only wield overwhelming market, social, and political power, and have thus far operated with complete impunity.

Large tech corporations have consistently violated Constitutional rights, federally protected civil rights, federal antitrust laws, and are found consistently to violate our privacy for the highest bidder. These monopolies have used their power to crush small businesses, innovation & choice. These monopolies have instated illegal and unethical working conditions for their workforce. These monopolies have targeted civilians and amassed data collection to assist in inequitable healthcare, housing, credit & employment opportunities. These monopolies have pushed low-income families and people of color out of their neighborhoods. These monopolies have collaborated with War Criminals & expanded our Police State. These monopolies have denied democracy and meddled in elections across the globe.  These monopolies evade Federal and State taxes with billionaire CEOs that hoard obscene wealth from their labor workforce and society as a whole. These monopolies have bought and paid for politicians and legislation to maintain the status quo.

Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Google and others have impacted every single aspect of our lives and have not been held accountable for the devastating harm they continue to commit. This is far too much power to vest in these for-profit corporations, whose first and obligations will always be to their profits and stockholders and not #OurCalifornia.

No more.

The likes of Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft and Google continually prove they are too big to be managed responsibly and need to be fundamentally transformed. Our Planet, our country, & #OurCalifornia deserves better. We all deserve our privacy. We all deserve peace. We all deserve ethical and just labor practices. We all deserve free and fair elections. And we all deserve to have equitable access to information with the opportunities that result from it – knowledge, professional development, fair housing, fair employment, just credit opportunities, and socialization.

For these reasons it is absolutely imperative to step and break up Big Tech Monopolies and their Corporate Empires.  When #OurCalifornia’s most marginalized are protected and succeed, we all win.

As your 2022 Governor of California, I intend to End Poverty in California, and this is how I believe breaking up Big Tech Monopolies and protecting #OurCalifornia can achieve that:

  • Rejecting their lobbyists and corporate cash
  • TFC – Taxing these robber barons appropriately
  • Support legislation implemented that targets and reduces executive economic inequality:
  • Support legislation that targets social inequality caused or exacerbated by large corporations:
    • Housing speculation & housing displacement;
    • Environmental injustice & frontline communities;
  • Investigation & Prosecution sets the foundation to ensure our government has addressed Big Tech and their Corporate empires’ corruption, mismanagement and that our government works to ensure it doesn’t continue. It sets precedent and warns others of the outcomes for bad actors. It allows the public to again have competitive and ethical markets for consumption of public goods;
  • Provide my Office of the Attorney General with the resources and support to formal investigations and prosecute Big Tech firms and their Corporate empires for:
    • Defrauding customers and the government:
    • Privacy Violations:
    • Suppressing Industry Wages;
    • State Tax Evasion;
    • Violating Constitutional & Civil Rights;
    • Eroding our democracy;
    • Antitrust:
      • My Office of the Attorney General will bring federal antitrust suits on the Tech Goliaths – specifically Amazon, Facebook, Google & Microsoft – on behalf of #OurCalifornia (“parens patriae”) and on behalf of the State as a purchaser;
        • These corporations are too large & have become monopolies.  They must be investigated, prosecuted and held accountable when it is determined they are violating current antitrust laws;
        • Applying sanctions when found responsible for violations of the law which will include restitution and up to forfeiture.  The sole purpose is to transition all Big Tech corporations operating in our State into small worker-owned cooperatives or public cooperative belonging to every resident of #OurCalifornia;
    • Unethical/illegal business practices:
    • Lobbying for significant influence and favor of our government:
    • Corruption:
    • Applying sanctions when found responsible for violations of the law will include will include restitution and up to public domain/asset forfeiture – transitioning all Big Tech corporations in our State into small worker-owned cooperatives or the general public belonging to every resident of #OurCalifornia;
  • Fundamentally transforming Big Tech Monopolies and their Corporate Empires:
    • Break up these corporate empires into small, manageable and ethical corporations that:
      • Reassess operations and ownership overseas to return power to Workers internationally;
      • Provide full-time employment status for moderators and exploited contract workers;
      • Expand worker influence over major company policies;
      • Have the potential for worker-owned cooperatives or municipally-owned public enterprises;
      • Provide more equitable and transparent pay structures;
      • Provide at least one board seat to a Union member;
      • The right to speak to the press without retaliation or firing;
      • Expand transparency for the depths and uses of deep marketing, protect users, information and ensure antitrust law compliance;
      • Redress and redistribution of wealth among Workers & Impacted parties;
  • Implement the Algorithmic Bill of Rights to ensure we have legislation that is relevant, timely and responsive to the expansive powers that Big Tech has become, protecting #OurCalifornia from Big Tech & its abuses;
    • Ensure future legislation is applicable to modern technology and operations;
    • Implement legislation to address algorithm use, manipulation & dominance that diverts more than 70% of all Internet traffic through Facebook and Google;
  • Formally investigate and prosecute Zuckerberg’s currency project Libra;
  • Support the federal repeal of SESTA/FOSTA and its tech applications and encourage State Legislation which challenges SESTA/FOSTA, specifically:
    • The government has no place in the consensual behavior of adults, and the bill’s significant targeting of legal, already marginalized and underserved populations of legal sex workers – especially those who are LGBTQ, BIPOC or Poor is not something I support;
    • As it stands, SESTA/FOSTA’s regulatory structure is currently only feasible for the largest tech companies as a result of their extensive legal resources.  Smaller networks and firms in the State of California, and the country, are often incapable of navigating or complying with this law – thus reducing innovation and legal content.  My government intends to support small business, spur innovation and increase legal content;
  • Eager to work with AFL-CIO, SEIU United Service Workers West & SEIU Local 1877, Alphabet Workers Union, Communications Workers of America, Silicon Valley Rising, Teamsters Local 853, Working Partnerships USA, Roots Action, Accountable Tech, Media Justice, Out In Tech, Institute for Policy Studies & all other labor unions, grassroots and impactful organizations, activists and pillars in the tech ethics, accountability, investigative journalism, transparency, labor, human rights, and research communities to ensure the needs of ALL in #OurCalifornia are inclusive and sustainably met;
  • In the true spirit of Upton Sinclair’s End Poverty in California campaign, I will call on fellow Citizens, Socialists, Governors, and fellow Socialist Gubernatorial campaigns across this country to adopt and implement the same.