Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard has been one of the most vocal critics of big tech on the campaign trail. And in a recent appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Gabbard provided more details on how she would rein in the massive amounts of power that these large social media companies hold.
The discussion began when Rogan said he thinks new laws need to be formed to protect users from the huge influence social media companies have over public discourse.
Gabbard agreed and when Rogan asked her specifically what she would do if she became president, she proposed a two-pronged legal approach.
First, Gabbard said she would look at existing antitrust laws and apply those laws to tech giants. She added that Facebook would be a primary target when applying these antitrust laws:
“I think the fact that Facebook owns, obviously Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, I think that is the definition of a monopoly across platforms that many of us use because there isn’t really a legitimate alternative option available to us. So I think that’s the first thing, looking at breaking up these monopolies.”
Second, Gabbard said that Congress needs to dig down and pass laws that ensure people’s freedom of speech and freedom to access information isn’t impeded by the large social media companies.
The proposal of these new laws comes after both Rogan and Gabbard have faced censorship at the hands of the social media giants.
Most recently, Gabbard’s YouTube channel appears to have been censored in search at a time when she was receiving mass media attention for pushing back against Hillary Clinton’s claims that she was being propped up by the Russians.
In October, Rogan also had one of his YouTube videos demonetized – a move that Rogan described as soft censorship and an attempt to “control the way people communicate.”
