Slowing economy could increase pressure on Big Tech - Axios
[{"sender": "Kathy Ruemm|er", "recipients": ["jeevacation@gmail.com"], "timestamp": "12/4/2018 3:20:07 PM", "subject": "Slowing economy could increase pressure on Big Tech - Axios", "body": "What do we think of this?\n\nhttps://www.axios.com/recession-threat-20 1 9-regulatory-risk-google-facebook-amazon-b8966b22-57dc-426c-\n9f4f-5526982383c7.html\n\nSlowing economy could increase pressure on\nBig Tech\n\nSara Fischer, David McCabe, Courtenay Brown5 hours ago\n\nA potential recession, combined with increasing regulatory threats for some of the biggest\ntech companies, foreshadows a difficult 2019 for Silicon Valley.\n\nWhy it matters: The biggest tech companies have already raked tn billions of dollars in\nprofits and benefited from major tax cuts that aren't going to be repeated, so next year isn't\nlikely to be better for them financially. They've also been dogged by scandals that have left\nmany questioning their positive role in society, and if on top of that the economy starts to\nslip, 2019 could be worse.\n\n\"People look for scapegoats in a bad economy. And with big tech already on its heels, a\ndownturn probably would feed arguments that the largest internet companies are too big\nand need to be reined in.\"\n\n— Paul Gallant, an analyst with Cowen Washington Research Group\n\nBig Tech is closing out a contentious year in Washington, and potential regulation will\ncontinue to haunt it well into 2019.\n\n° Google CEO Sundar Pichai has agreed to testify before Congress, and will likely be\nasked about whether the company is being transparent about its data privacy practices and\nany potential bias. By the year's end, the CEOs of Twitter, Google and Facebook will have\nbeen called to testified in front of Congress for the first time ever during 2018.\n\n° Lawmakers in the United States are pushing for a federal privacy law with an urgency\nlikely to be exacerbated by more breaches like the one Marriott disclosed last Friday.\n\n° The Federal Trade Commission still has an open investigation into whether\nFacebook’s conduct violated a previous settlement with the agency. Margrethe Vestager,"}]