Sen. Hawley: Break up Big Tech behemoths to reclaim American freedom

I distinctly remember the time Mark Zuckerberg came to see me in my office.It was five years ago now, back when the Facebook founder was at the height of his “move fast and break things” stardom.I was a new senator and a skeptic.

I thought his company — now Meta — was breaking too many things: like the right to free speech, or the right to control your personal data, or the right of your kids to have a sane childhood.Zuckerberg came to convince me otherwise, as he had convinced many a regulator and politician, by making vague promises about Big Tech’s good intentions.I’ll never forget the look of shock on his face when I suggested the best thing Big Tech could do was start surrendering power.Break themselves up.

Give control back to their customers.It was abundantly clear he had no such intentions.Now the Federal Trade Commission is suing Meta for antitrust violations in federal court — and on April 17, another federal judge found tech giant Google liable for a host of antitrust breaches.Finally.These cases involve important points of law — about Google’s online ad business, and Meta’s acquisition of WhatsApp and Instagram.But they are, at base, about something more fundamental still.They are about who is going to run this country.The Constitution opens with the seminal words “We the People.” But given the power Big Tech has amassed in recent years, one could be forgiven for thinking it starts with “We the Corporations.”We have come to a moment of decision: Either the government will break up these behemoths and return to the people the power they have seized, or the corporations will effectively be the government for the nation.

It’s one or the other.Think that’s too stark? Consider Big Tech’s behavior in just the last five years, since Zuckerberg came to my office to sing his industry’s praises.The tech giants have, in no particular order, openly interfered in a federal election by suppressing accurate reporting on Hunter Bid...