President Donald Trump tweeted ahead of Wednesday’s House hearing with “Big Tech” companies that if Congress doesn’t bring “fairness” to the industry, he will do so via executive order.
“If Congress doesn’t bring fairness to Big Tech, which they should have done years ago, I will do it myself with Executive Orders,” Trump wrote before the hearing began. “In Washington, it has been ALL TALK and NO ACTION for years, and the people of our Country are sick and tired of it!”
If Congress doesn’t bring fairness to Big Tech, which they should have done years ago, I will do it myself with Executive Orders. In Washington, it has been ALL TALK and NO ACTION for years, and the people of our Country are sick and tired of it!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2020
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai are testifying Wednesday before the House Judiciary Committee on potential antitrust violations committed by their respective companies. .
The president told the Daily Caller during an exclusive Oval Office interview back in June that he was considering modernizing how antitrust laws apply to big technology companies as a potential second-term initiative. (EXCLUSIVE: Pressed To List Second Term Initiatives, Trump Says He Could Support Modernizing Antitrust Laws)
“It’s really unfair what’s going on with the conservative voice,” Trump stated while addressing alleged censorship of conservative ideas by social media companies. “You’d solve the entire problem of the various, you know, monopolists, if you ever voided Section 230.”
US President Donald Trump waves as he boards Air Force One on July 29, 2020 at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland en route to Texas. (Photo by NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images)
The Daily Caller in turn asked the president why specifically he wants to roll back Section 230, instead of modernizing “all of the antitrust laws for the internet?”
“You know, that could happen,” he answered. “That could happen.” (RELATED: Read The Transcript Of Zuckerberg’s Prepared Opening Remarks Ahead Of House’s Antitrust Hearing)
Trump conceded that “you’ve got a lot of forces against, with antitrust. People own stock in the companies, millions of people own stock in companies.”