Teddy Roosevelt was the original Trustbuster, and boy did he go big. Starting with the titan of industry, J.P. Morgan, he went on to busting dozens more. Roosevelt changed business in this country forever. From the meat industry to railroads, to Standard Oil, Roosevelt had an impact. It is still uncertain whether the trust-busting of Roosevelt and his successor, William Taft, was good for the public and businesses, but it changed the way business was viewed and practiced.
Anarchists and Socialists
In this country, it seems that you are either for a completely untethered, Wild West free market, or you want complete, heavy-handed government control, all black and white. An untethered free market is almost impossible, but in this country, we have gone screaming past any middle ground, to land smack dab into quasi-Socialism, micro-managing every detail. While a certain amount of reining in of the early monopolies no doubt helped the working conditions of employees, the positive and negative effects on how businesses are run is still up for debate.
Fast-forward to the twenty-first century, and we have a virtual monopoly of the Internet by a few tech companies. This control is by no means benign; it means accessing or denying access to personal information. It means controlling the message of opposing viewpoints while pushing those of the favored few.
The free market fan wants to look to history; many corporate giants have climbed to the top of the hill, and have then been knocked off by a new, stronger and better run upstart company. It has happened throughout the history of this country and probably would have happened even without Teddy Roosevelt and William Taft's Trust-busting. So why do we have all the talk about breaking up the Facebooks and Googles of the world? Having control of information and debate in the hands of just a few people is dangerous for the future of this country.
The Creation of Baby Media
The heavy hand of the Trustbusters at the turn of the twentieth century would not work with the Tech giants of today. The breakup of Ma Bell in the eighties into smaller "baby bells" would be a better template. Breaking up the Facebook and Google monopolies into "baby media's" would be a fairer and less intrusive way to solve this problem. Force competition and let the new "babies" work it out on a more level playing field. Not the best free market solution, but people are clamoring for something to be done. It is clear that a solution is needed.
After the initial, albeit intrusive, break-up, the government would need to step back and let the competition flow. Generally speaking, involving Government in pretty much anything does not end well. Still, every once in a while, reaching in and shaking things up can be productive. As long as they then step back and let the ideas and information flow, we could be headed towards a Golden Age of free speech.
There is no doubt that Silicon Valley is infringing upon the rights of millions of Americans by monopolizing and aggressively controlling the information highway. There is also no doubt that the rights of Americans should extend to the virtual reality of the internet. While companies do have the right to decide how their services are used in normal situations, that should not be the case if they are the only companies to provide that service. It is time to let freedom ring.
Comment: As the tech giants provide a valuable service to the establishment by controlling the official narrative, there's little incentive for the government to change what works so well as a control mechanism.