Big Tech
Shizuo Kambayashi/AP Photo
SoftBank’s Blurry Vision
SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son lost $70 billion when the first tech bubble burst. His Vision Fund is heavily invested in practically every tech IPO disaster this year. Read more
Elaine Thompson/AP Photo
Out With ALEC, In With Corporations Writing Their Own Laws
As the corporate bill mill wanes in influence, large businesses are taking matters into their own hands. Read more
Andrew Harnik/AP Photo
How Neoliberal Policy Shaped the Internet—and What to Do About It Now
Unrestrained digital markets have given us monopoly, pervasive surveillance, and powerful vectors of disinformation. But a new agenda is emerging to turn things around. Read more
GDA via AP Images
The Hacked States of America
Netflix’s ‘The Great Hack’ director Karim Amer discusses how stolen personal data are manipulated to advance demagoguery and disinformation. Read more
Rob Gillies/AP Photo
Disrupting Democracy: When Big Tech Takes Over a City
Google partner Sidewalk Labs wants to remake the Toronto waterfront as a privately run digital development. It may really be a digital dystopia. Read more
Yichuan Cao/Sipa USA via AP Images
Google Is Like Facebook—but a Lot Smarter
Unlike Mark Zuckerberg’s company, Google knows how to wield soft power to avoid estranging Democrats. Read more
Gunnar Rathbun/Invision for Walmart/AP Images
The Jobs Really Most Threatened by Machines
It’s not truckers. It’s cashiers. Read more
Xavier Vila/SIPA/AP Images
Some Friendly Chats Between Big Tech and Its Regulators
FOIAs of the Federal Trade Commission’s back-and-forth with Google make clear it’s less a regulator than a helpful pal. Read more
Kristoffer Tripplaar/Sipa/AP Images
A Public Option Might Be Journalism’s Last Best Hope
Democratic candidates are returning en masse to Great Society–era policies, which may also hold the key to rescuing the Fourth Estate. Read more
Science Photo Library via AP Images
The Power of the Public Option: A Q&A With Ganesh Sitaraman and Anne Alstott
The authors of a new book, The Public Option, explain why Americans should embrace government-provided services as plain good policy. Read more
Mike Stewart/AP Photo
Progressive Group Says It’s Time for the FTC to Investigate the FTC
Is the Federal Trade Commission using the same deceptive advertising practices it’s supposed to police? Read more
Darron Cummings/AP Photo
Who’s Writing the 2020 Candidates’ Policies?
A survey of the advisers and staffers behind the leading presidential hopefuls Read more
Charlie Neibergall/AP Image
Private Equity’s Next Leveraged Buyout Might Be the Oval Office
Several candidates who have taken donor cash from private-equity barons have remained silent about the threat posed by the industry. Read more
Lynne Sladky/AP Photo
AT&T Hires Verizon (Excuse Me?)
Why has one telecom giant hooked up with its chief rival—and what does it portend for their more than 200 million subscribers? Read more
Patrick Semansky/AP Image
How Amazon Controls Its Marketplace
Amazon’s dominance doesn’t merely rely on competing with sellers on its platform. It extracts a deep cut from every transaction, at the expense of sellers and customers. Read more
Alex Milan Tracy/Sipa via AP Images
The Cost-Benefit Boomerang
The right devised cost-benefit analysis to discredit regulation. Now this technique is showing massive net benefits, and the foes of environmental regulation are in a panic. Read more
Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP Photo
Trump’s Antitrust Cops Fail to Police Big Business—Again
The day after one regulator announces an investigation into Big Tech, another gives Facebook a wet kiss. It’s all part of a pattern. Read more
