High Tech Politics: Silicon Valley's Turn to the Right

James Alleman and Jonathan Liebenau

33rd European Regional ITS Conference, Edinburgh, 2025: Digital innovation and transformation in uncertain times from International Telecommunications Society (ITS)

Abstract: When and why did the founders and investors of the most successful digital economy companies use their wealth, influence, and "megaphone" in the political arena to further extreme conservative policies – when and why did Silicon Valley turn right? The position of a few far-right individuals such as Peter Thiel and his associates have long been understood but the ability of the American tech sector to foster a long-term rightist agenda has become much more apparent in recent years. Here we focus on two major policy failures that fostered the turn to the right, a consequence of the Telecom Act of 1996 and the application of Justice Robert Bork's principles of competition. After a brief overview, we review the internet's initial promise to become a force for public good, minority and diverse interests, individual and social welfare and its subsequent abject failure to fulfil much of that promise. We will then address how and why the internet is a threat to democracy by virtue of the ways in which it has taken the turn to the right.

Date: 2025
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-pol
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