Shortsighted Big Tech

by Matt Benjamin

Well, Democrats will soon control the White House, the House of Representatives and the Senate, and they're by and large cheering on the actions of Big Tech with regard to President Trump.

So Big Tech companies may be trying to please the incoming regime. But that may turn out to be a shortsighted strategy.

Democratic control of the federal government won't last forever. Republicans will eventually - and very possibly as soon as the 2022 midterm elections - regain control of one or both chambers of Congress. When they do, taking major social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook down a notch will be at the top of their agenda. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina is already vowing to strip tech companies of certain legal protections they now enjoy.

In addition, by banning Trump, these companies risk angering a substantial portion of their users. Vast networks of users are what make these platforms so valuable - i.e., people choose to use Twitter and Facebook because everyone else uses them. Driving a substantial number of their users away means these companies could lose a lot of that value.

And the fact that Amazon, Apple and Google can basically make a platform like Parler go completely dark illustrates the sheer power of these companies and the fact that many other companies are overly dependent on them.

As a result, "Many CEOs will likely conclude that they have to reduce their dependence on single service providers," says Louis Gave of Gavekal Research. So Amazon's decision to block Parler may unwittingly give a boost to Amazon's competitors, "potentially undermining the dominance in web services that has largely driven Amazon's share price outperformance in recent years."

In a nutshell, these dramatic decisions by Big Tech should give investors - regardless of their politics - pause about the future revenue and earnings growth of these companies.

Sure, the mega-tech firms will still be around for the long term. But they may have just offered competitors a sturdy bridge over the moats - the sustainable competitive advantages - that have protected them from the ravages of competition for so long.

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By the way, if you don't know yet, there is another brand new social media, SafeChat, available now. Per SafeChat,  it is a secure & safe social platform run to a high moral standard—they put people first. Secure Chat - They have end-to-end encrypted conversations to protect users. - One to one video and audio call with end-to-end encryption. - Password protection available for every group conversation. It basically combines all the major functionalities of social media into one powerful platform and most importantly it is much safer than the junky social media like WC, FB or Twitter that are deteriorating morally faster and faster.

I have registered as 深山老林 at SafeChat and I will set up a new chat group and gradually shift our major social media interactions to SC instead of WC. If you'd like to join my group, sign up a free SC account easily and search for me and connect me as friends.  For friends sharing  similar conservatism views, let's come together to form a better chatting group that won't be constantly disturbed and harassed by radical censorship!