Former officials say big tech monopoly power is vital to national security
So there are 3 ways the government could influence Big Tech:<p>1. Infiltration. An agent or asset could be in a position of power to enact desired policies and changes, provide a backdoor or whatever;<p>2. Jurisdiction. The platform falls under US jurisdiction so is subject to various forms of law enforcement, secret or otherwise. National Security Letters, FISA warrants, pen registers, that sort of thing; and<p>3. Propaganda. US companies reflect the cultural and political values of their founders, board and management as will as the will of stockholders. For some issues there is a political divide but for many issues there isn&#x27;t, most notably when it comes to US foreign policy where Democrats and Republicans are basically indistinguishable.<p>The prevailing foreign policy view is that the US is good and a benign hegemony and a civilizing and democratizing force. The current foreign policy bent also favours interventionism and has since World War Two.<p>You see this at the huge backlash you get, even here among relatively educated and informed commenters, when you dare to suggest that the US bears some responsibility for Ukraine&#x27;s predicament even though Russia is of course wholly responsible for an unjustifiable invasion.<p>It&#x27;s a real lesson in the power of US propaganda and how ingrained the benign hegemony meme (and it is a meme) is.<p>My theory is the first 2 points I listed above don&#x27;t matter. They&#x27;re of almost no importance. What really matters is the ability of the US media (and I include social media companies in this umbrella) to project US propaganda and to normalize the US-centric view of the world.