Will the regulation of Big Tech backfire

Cory Doctorow Twitter thread that starts here:

I'm all for regulating Big Tech, but not all regulation is created equal. Some regulation can dampen the power of Big Tech, while other regulation can make it permanent, even creating powerful stakeholders for monopolies within government.

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— Cory Doctorow #BLM (@doctorow) August 30, 2020

Then continues on to this:

Not only is this a disaster because filters are garbage and block all kinds of legitimate speech - it's doubly awful because it prevents competitors from entering Big Tech's markets that might be more respectful of their users - co-ops, EU-based SMEs, etc.

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— Cory Doctorow #BLM (@doctorow) August 30, 2020

And it prevents a future Hush-a-Phone moment for Big Tech: Youtube will say that if it is responsible for fighting extremism and infringement, it MUST block competitors who interoperate with its service to provide fairer, better alternatives.

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— Cory Doctorow #BLM (@doctorow) August 30, 2020

And continues until it ends on Tweet #39. The whole thing is worth reading.