Longtime technology critic Tim Wu is joining the Biden government as a consultant on technology and competition, a sign that the White House is likely to push for policies that control Big Tech.
Wu will serve on the National Economic Council as the president’s special assistant for technology and competition policy, the White House said this morning. Wu confirmed the news in a tweet.
Wu is best known in technology circles as the man who coined the term “net neutrality” in the early 2000s. He has held several positions at the federal level before, including advisory roles at the Federal Trade Commission and the National Economic Council. He has also been a full professor at Columbia University law school since 2006, where he teaches the First Amendment and antitrust law.
Your 2010 book The master switch argued that the open Internet, as we knew it, was moving towards a closed and walled future. In 2018 he published another book, The Curse of Bignessin, in which he argued that the failure of US regulators to enforce antitrust laws has led to “a new golden age” and all the problems that go with it.
Several prominent progressive Democratic lawmakers applauded the move. “Tim is a long-standing antitrust advocate and has pressured public officials to dismember and control Big Tech,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Who called for Big Tech to break up during her unsuccessful run in the presidential primaries in 2019. “I’m happy to see you in this role.”
Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Who recently proposed a bill that would be the biggest antitrust reform since 1976 if enacted, also issued a statement in support of Wu’s new position. “It is clear that this government is serious about promoting competition in the United States,” said Klobuchar. “America has a major monopoly problem that must be resolved urgently … I look forward to working with Tim to modernize antitrust enforcement, strengthen our economy and protect workers and consumers.”
Those who oppose his political goals seem to be concerned about how seriously the White House may now be taking him. An industry lobbyist, Wu’s critic, told the Protocol that the nomination “should not be ruled out … This can be dangerous”.
That said, Wu’s new role doesn’t put him in a position to jump with a metaphorical sledgehammer and start destroying companies. The White House can make any suggestions it wants, but the effective enforcement of antitrust legislation comes from the Department of Justice and the FTC, both of which are still awaiting the appointment or confirmation of a new leadership. (Wu’s appointment to the NEC makes it clear that he will not work for either of these agencies, although Washington’s rumor has considered him a candidate for both.)
Both agencies, however, are already plunged up to their necks in striking cases against the big tech companies. The FTC and a coalition of 47 states filed antitrust lawsuits in December seeking to dismember Facebook, arguing that their Instagram and WhatsApp acquisitions were anti-competitive and should not have happened.
Likewise, the DOJ and several groups of states have filed important lawsuits against Google, arguing that the search-advertising-phone-giant everything behaves in an anti-competitive manner. Although these processes, now mostly consolidated, do not explicitly seek to break up Google, they emphasize that “structural remedies” may be necessary.