The Great American Tech "Crackdown" Is Looking Like China's
The article argues that U.S. tech regulations and antitrust actions against major tech companies increasingly resemble China's strict controls, suggesting a convergence of digital governance approaches between the two countries.
Background
- The author is arguing that recent U.S. antitrust enforcement and regulatory pressure on Big Tech (e.g., DOJ cases against Google, FTC actions, state-level bills) mirrors the approach China has long used to control its domestic tech giants like Alibaba and Tencent.
- "China's approach" refers to Beijing's heavy-handed regulation of its tech sector—curtailing monopolistic practices, limiting data collection, and forcing political alignment—which critics see as state control dressed up as antitrust.
- The piece suggests that American regulators are now adopting similar tactics: using antitrust law not just to promote competition, but to actively shape corporate behavior, punish perceived noncompliance, and limit platform power.
- Key background: The U.S. has historically taken a lighter-touch, consumer-welfare-based approach to antitrust (focusing on price effects), but a new "structuralist" or "neo-Brandeisian" movement pushes for breaking up companies regardless of consumer harm—a shift critics compare to China's industrial policy.