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Presented by Ericsson: How the next wave of technology is upending the global economy and its power structures | | | | |  | | By Ben Schreckinger | Presented by Ericsson | With help from Derek Robertson
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Twitter headquarters stands on 10th street on Nov. 4, 2022 in San Francisco, Calif. | David Odisho/Getty Images | Listen to the second episode of POLITICO Tech's multi-part podcast series on cybercrime below, and find the whole series here . | Elon Musk's attempt to stage a blowout media event by releasing internal Twitter correspondence last week hasn't changed many peoples’ opinions about the main topic of his document dump, the 2020 controversy over how Twitter handled the story of Hunter Biden’s laptop. But anyone playing close attention could see something else shift over the weekend: The contours of the online culture war. Musk's release — and the hours-long Twitter Spaces session he held about it on Saturday night — amounted to something like a coming-out party for an emerging constellation of anti-establishment forces and the digital media ecosystem they inhabit. Much as Donald Trump offered a new political home for long-dormant American nationalist ideas, Musk's company is turning into a kind of coffeehouse for provocateurs, largely from the tech world and alternative publishing platforms like Substack, who see mainstream media as biased towards progressive values over libertarian ones. (Conveniently, the mainstream media largely pooh-poohed the proceedings.) For Twitter, this amounts to a turnabout. After the rise of Trump prompted concerns that his movement was pumping hate speech and disinformation into online discourse, social media companies took steps to more actively police their platforms. Twitter, especially, took an aggressive stance, banning accounts for offensive tweets, putting disclaimers on posts that contradicted the consensus of public health authorities and eventually booting Trump from its platform. Thanks in part to such online crackdowns, Trump’s populist insurgency lost steam. But as it did, other anti-establishment currents gained momentum online. In recent years, a slew of defectors fled establishment-oriented institutions in the center and on the left, saying they had become censorious and conformist in the Trump era, finding common cause with Silicon Valley libertarians. Now, following the takeover of Twitter by a new owner who'd rather joust with establishment media than play by its rules, they may have a new home. The grassroots populist right that fueled Trump's rise has not gone away — many of its leaders , including, Trump, have been recalled from Twitter exile — but after the poor showing of Trump-aligned populists in the Midterms, it's fair to wonder if it has now ceded primacy to Musk's brand of techno-billionaire anti-woke politics . While this reshuffle has been years in the making, it crystallized with this weekend’s digital media extravaganza. In promoting his document release, Musk collaborated with writer Matt Taibbi, a longtime critic of mainstream media outlets and online censorship, who — after stints at Rolling Stone and First Look Media, publisher of the Intercept — hosts his own outlet, TK News , on Substack. Substack itself is almost a character in this drama: The newsletter platform embodies the budding alliance between Silicon Valley libertarians and establishment defectors. Founded by a former Tesla executive, Substack has set up itself as a free-speech foil to establishment outlets, which have at times criticized its lack of oversight of writers, many of whom left large media organizations for the platform. (Another one is Bari Weiss, formerly of the New York Times, who Musk said was also reviewing the documents; Substack writer Glenn Greenwald, formerly of the Intercept, has taken the lead in pushing back against mainstream media critics of Taibbi’s collaboration with Musk.) Part digital hangout, part makeshift press conference , the Twitter Spaces on Saturday night saw Musk opine on free speech, take questions from Fox News reporters, chat with online influencers, and dodge pointed questions about his stance on freedom in China, where he has extensive business entanglements. The conversation, hosted by crypto entrepreneur Mario Nawfal, has drawn 2.1 million listeners on the platform. Taibbi, who said he is continuing to review the internal files, told POLITICO late Sunday that his findings thus far have provided more fodder for his longstanding critiques of online censorship, but have yet to yield major bombshells. “So far what I’ve seen mostly just confirms what we know, though it’s embarrassing to read,” he said. Even if the story fizzles, its convening power for this movement raises the question: is the whole spectacle of Musk-owned Twitter a sideshow, or the start of something bigger? There’s no question that Musk sees it as the latter. In recent weeks, the mogul has outlined a view that Twitter’s hivemind — he calls the social network a “super-intelligence” — should be harnessed to promote free speech , in order to win nothing less than “a battle for the future of civilization.”
| | | | A message from Ericsson: Ericsson helps the U.S. build 5G infrastructure. Ericsson is the leading provider of 5G equipment in the U.S. From our 5G smart factory in Texas, the first of its kind in the US, we supply equipment directly to leading nationwide and rural service providers. Learn more at ericsson.com/us. | | | | | | Last week in this newsletter I interviewed Wells King, the research director at a conservative think tank hoping to nudge the Republican status quo in favor of a more hands-on approach to tech and industrial policy. That interview led Neil Chilson, a senior research fellow for technology and innovation at Stand Together Trust, to respond in a mini-Twitter thread in which he stuck up for the hands-off approach that’s dominated the past several decades. I reached out to Neil and asked if he’d be interested in offering a bite-sized rebuttal about how he thinks government intervention might still do more harm than good — his response to King follows: According to Wells King, Silicon Valley’s history shows that government investment is the missing ingredient of U.S. innovation. He argues that we now innovate only in bits, not atoms. Along the way he takes potshots at “market fundamentalists,” “libertarians,” and “permissionless innovation.” The piece shows that, at least in King’s part of America, we’re still great at manufacturing straw men. Of course government affects innovation! It’s a big funder, customer, and regulator. King focuses on the first two but criticizes advocates of “permissionless innovation,” like me. We argue that innovators (regardless how funded) shouldn’t have to seek government permission to market-test new products and services. Where government embraces permissionless innovation, the private sector flourishes. As King himself notes, “regulatory reforms” empowered America’s venture capital sector. King pooh-poohs U.S. innovation since the 1980s, when oversea hardware manufacturing grew. He blames this change on diminished government funding. But there is another cause: the invasive kudzu of U.S. labor, environmental, and business regulations entangle efforts to “build with atoms” here. This regulatory burden has tipped the U.S. economy further toward innovation in bits. Contra King, regulatory reforms that enable permissionless innovation will help government tech investments deliver real world results. If King wants to maximize the benefits of government tech investment, he should drop the straw men and embrace permissionless innovation. Whatever embrace ends up occurring in world of tech and innovation policy, the live debate among wonks across the spectrum is proof enough that the landscape there is shifting almost as rapidly as the technology itself. — Derek Robertson
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Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.) | Jonathan Wiggs/Boston Globe/Associated Press | The trickle-down effect of FTX’s collapse continues to reach new and unexpected areas: This time, the sharp-elbowed world of state politics. As POLITICO’s Lisa Kashinsky noted in Massachusetts Playbook this morning, one of the state’s top Democrats told “Meet the Press” this weekend she won’t be demanding her fellow state Dems return any money donated by Sam Bankman-Fried — most notably U.S. Rep. Jake Auchincloss, who received the max contribution, $5,800, from Bankman-Fried in March, $5,800 from FTX’s U.S. head of policy, and $2,900 from the former president of FTX’s U.S. arm, as Lisa reports. A spokesperson for Auchincloss declined to say whether he would return the funds, but he hasn’t otherwise been silent on crypto. In March he co-signed a letter asking the SEC to avoid using its enforcement agency against the crypto industry, something he defended in an interview with MSNBC next week. When FTX collapsed, market-watchers and Americans in general breathed a sigh of relief that it seemingly wasn’t intertwined enough with the traditional U.S. market to cause economic ripples outside the crypto world. The same can’t be said for the world of politics, where mini-dramas like Auchincloss’ have been playing out ever since the central fraud came to light. — Derek Robertson
| | | | A NEW POLITICO PODCAST: POLITICO Tech is an authoritative insider briefing on the politics and policy of technology. From crypto and the metaverse to cybersecurity and AI, we explore the who, what and how of policy shaping future industries. We’re kicking off with a series exploring darknet market places, the virtual platforms that enable actors from all corners of the online world to traffic illicit goods. As malware and cybercrime attacks become increasingly frequent, regulators and law enforcement agencies work different angles to shut these platforms down, but new, often more unassailable marketplaces pop up. SUBSCRIBE AND START LISTENING TODAY . | | | | | | | | | Stay in touch with the whole team: Ben Schreckinger ( bschreckinger@politico.com ); Derek Robertson ( drobertson@politico.com ); Steve Heuser ( sheuser@politico.com ); and Benton Ives ( bives@politico.com ). Follow us @DigitalFuture on Twitter. Ben Schreckinger covers tech, finance and politics for POLITICO; he is an investor in cryptocurrency. If you’ve had this newsletter forwarded to you, you can sign up and read our mission statement at the links provided.
| | | | A message from Ericsson: Ericsson. 5G Made for US.
5G will be a platform for a new economy, driven by cutting edge use cases that take advantage of 5G’s speed, low latency and reliability. Ericsson’s 120-year history in the U.S. and recent investments, like the 5G smart factory in Texas, make the company the right partner to build the open and secure networks that will be the backbone of the 5G economy.
Learn more at ericsson.com/us. | | | | | | | JOIN WEDNESDAY FOR A POLITICO DISCUSSION ON THE NEW TRAVEL EXPERIENCE : Americans are now traveling in record numbers — but the travel experience has changed drastically in recent years, not always for the better. What lessons can we learn from the pandemic and different responses around the globe? And in the face of a possible recession, what will help the travel industry remain vibrant and deliver jobs? Join POLITICO on Dec. 7 for “The Travel Experience Redefined” to discuss these questions and more. Breakfast and coffee will be provided. REGISTER HERE . | | | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |  |
