Meredith WhittakerJul 25, 2024

Catching up on some of the "Little Tech" rhetoric from a16z. A lot more to say here.

But one thing that stands out as a rhetorical flaw in the pitch: curbing Big Tech startup acquisitions is listed as bad for little tech. Even as little tech is presented as the enabler of competition and innovation, contra Big Tech's market consolidation. Consolidation that is, of course, facilitated via acquisitions.

https://pmarca.substack.com/p/the-little-tech-agenda

THE LITTLE TECH AGENDA

Marc Andreessen & Ben Horowitz, July 5, 2024

Marc Andreessen Substack
Show threadAral BalkanJul 25, 2024
@Mer__edith How the fuck – excuse my French – does a fucking billionaire purport to champion “little” anything without getting laughed out of every fucking room?
Show threadWalter van HolstJul 25, 2024
@aral @Mer__edith You should have been there during that hearing in the European Parliament where a Facebook lobbyist (and former German MEP for S+D) with a straight face argued that the GDPR should not be burdensome to SMEs like Facebook (which at the time had fewer than fifty employees in Ireland)...
Show threadAral BalkanJul 25, 2024

@whvholst @Mer__edith Oh I’ve been in the EU Parliament sitting on a panel next to a Facebook drone.

It did not go well for them.

https://ar.al/2019/11/29/the-future-of-internet-regulation-at-the-european-parliament/

The Future of Internet Regulation at the European Parliament

A brief write-up of my talk at the EU Parliament last week with embedded videos of my talk and a link to my slides.

Aral Balkan
Show threadWalter van Holst
@aral @Mer__edith Sadly, the composition of that particular panel clearly had been clearly vetted to carefully avoid any contributions based in objective reality.
Jul 25, 2024 at 11:09amWeb
Show threadAral BalkanJul 25, 2024
@whvholst @Mer__edith As is so often the case.