Tech

December 09, 2020

Press Release 2020 Election/TransitionAnti-MonopolyRevolving DoorTech

Case Against Facebook Heightens Need For Independent Executive Branch

“We are glad that advocates and authorities across the country have begun to recognize the democratic imperative of ending concentrated economic power. In the case of Big Tech firms like Facebook, Google, and Amazon, the power they wield over the internet, the economy, our government, and broader society has had an incalculable impact.”

November 24, 2020

Timi Iwayemi

Blog Post

2020 Election/TransitionForeign PolicyTech

Michèle Flournoy and The Ongoing Influence of WestExec Advisors

As we proposed in the Prospect, Biden’s administration can pursue a progressive national security agenda that prioritizes diplomacy over military action, opposes regime change interventions, reduces the Pentagon’s budget, and condemns governments that violate human rights. But to do so, Biden must also end the defense industry’s influence on the executive branch and turn to individuals without deep conflicts.

November 17, 2020

Press Release

Revolving DoorTech

Progressive Groups Urge President-Elect Biden Not to Appoint Former Google CEO to Administration

The Revolving Door Project is joined by the Open Markets Institute, the Communications Workers of America, and 11 other progressive organizations in asking President-elect Joe Biden to take a hard line against the influence of individuals with close ties to Google. The letter focuses in particular on the former longtime CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt. Schmidt is reportedly being considered for a position in President-elect Biden’s administration, an appointment that risks alienating voters who want to see the economic power of Google and other major corporations reined in.

August 10, 2020

Jeff Hauser Max Moran Andrea Beaty Miranda Litwak

Blog Post

Anti-MonopolyEthics in GovernmentRevolving DoorTech

The Revolving Door Project on Fighting Monopoly Power

Congress and the antitrust enforcement agencies have given unprecedented attention to the monopoly issues surrounding Big Tech in recent months. The scrutiny is one step toward rebalancing our increasingly concentrated economy, especially in the time of COVID-19, when small businesses are struggling to survive and corporations are further entrenching their power. But the problem of economic concentration extends far beyond Big Tech. It defines almost every corner of our economy. With the upcoming election and a potential shift in power, Joe Biden has an opportunity to reduce economic consolidation across the board, using executive branch powers including, but not limited to, reforming the antitrust enforcement agencies.

August 05, 2020 | The American Prospect

Eleanor Eagan

Op-Ed

Congressional OversightTech

The Big Tech Hearings Could Be a Model for Corporate Accountability

In 2018, Democrats ran and won on a platform to hold President Trump and his cronies accountable. Many observers expected to be treated to a full schedule of oversight programming in the succeeding Congress, with a nearly endless stream of smug incompetents being caught in their lies and obfuscations. Some even dared to hope that the oversight fervor might spill over to another breed of smug incompetents: corporate CEOs. But, alas, the promised enthusiasm for oversight never seemed to materialize, let alone spread to new targets. (As usual, House Financial Services Committee chairwoman Maxine Waters, who confronted big bank CEOs within months of assuming control of her committee, stands out as a rare exception).

August 04, 2020

Public Comment

Ethics in GovernmentFinancial RegulationTech

Revolving Door Project Comments on OCC's Proposed Rulemaking on Digital Activities

As numerous civil rights and racial justice organizations have highlighted, changes to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s (OCC) regulations on digital activities are likely to have far-reaching consequences as it regards economic and racial equity. Specifically, these changes risk leading to disparate impact, “digital redlining, “predatory inclusion,” and enhanced surveillance. Given the seriousness of this rulemaking’s potential consequences, the OCC should do all that it can to ensure that the public has the utmost confidence in the integrity of the rulemaking process. Sadly, in allowing that process to move forward under the leadership of an acting official with severe conflicts of interest, the Office is rendering public trust in it impossible.

July 29, 2020 | Talking Points Memo

Andrea Beaty

Op-Ed

Anti-MonopolyDepartment of JusticeFTCTech

Today’s Congressional Hearing Will Test Big Tech’s Simplest Algorithm: If An Ex-Regulator, Then Hire

The tech companies set to testify before the House today knew for years that a reckoning was in the works. They’ve been building up their defenses, and a key component of that defense is the antitrust enforcement officials who take a trip through the revolving door to the benefit of corporate clients.