The White House has reportedly drafted an executive order that would open an antitrust investigation into the Silicon Valley Masters of the Universe.
According to a report from Bloomberg, the White House has drafted an executive order that would begin an antitrust investigation into the business practices of Silicon Valley tech companies such as Google, Facebook, and Twitter. The executive order is reportedly just awaiting President Trump’s signature before the investigation can take place. The order is still only a draft and has yet to be reviewed by other government agencies according to White House officials.
Bloomberg obtained a copy of the draft, nothing that it instructs U.S. antitrust authorities to: “Thoroughly investigate whether any online platform has acted in violation of the antitrust laws.” The order asks other government agencies to suggest actions that could potentially “protect competition among online platforms and address online platform bias,” within the next month.
The document does not, however, specifically name which companies would be subject to investigation, rather seeming to target all of them with wording stating that the investigation would pertain to “any online platform” that may have violated antitrust laws.
In August, President Trump claimed that social media platforms were discriminating against conservative voices, something which Breitbart News has reported on for some time.
Social Media is totally discriminating against Republican/Conservative voices. Speaking loudly and clearly for the Trump Administration, we won’t let that happen. They are closing down the opinions of many people on the RIGHT, while at the same time doing nothing to others…….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 18, 2018
The executive order states: “Because of their critical role in American society, it is essential that American citizens are protected from anti-competitive acts by dominant online platforms.” The order continues to state that consumer harm could come “through the exercise of bias.”
Breitbart News has previously reported on examples of political bias by companies such as Google and Facebook, this executive order could be the first step into holding tech firms accountable for their actions and political biases towards their users, preventing cases such as the blacklisting of Infowars host Alex Jones over the course of a single day in the future.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com
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