Shira Ovide worries that “big tech” has too much power [“Why is Big Tech under assault? Power,” April 23, Business]. The dire threat, according to Ovide, is that executives like Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg have big megaphones. Tech giants Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have unfettered power to freeze out the voices of those they deem unreliable.
She frets that they are the deciders, the influencers of public opinion. Well, what’s wrong with that?
The First Amendment dictates that “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or the press …” That means that the government has no authority to censor, curb or control the speech that big-tech editors decide to allow or disallow.
Fair or not, big tech is taking over some of the power and influence that newspapers once wielded. The solution is to rely on them to exercise their power responsibly according to the traditions of the American free press.
Jerry Cronk, Shoreline