Trump's anger at the perceived bias of big tech is reportedly getting conservatives fired up, and he's not about to back down
- US President Donald Trump and his allies feel so strongly about the perceived liberal bias in tech, that it produces the same gut reaction as gun control and immigration.
- Axios reported that Trump is not about to back down in his war on Google and other firms, with his allies saying it's "an issue that's here to stay."
- Silicon Valley seems resigned to the long fight. "There will be no fixing this," a tech exec source told The New York Times.
Donald Trump and his allies are getting ready for a long fight with America's tech giants.
That's according to Axios, which has spoken to a number of the US president's operatives about his escalating attack on companies including Google and Twitter.
One source told the website that a perceived liberal bias on these platforms is getting conservatives as exercised as the gun control debate and immigration issues.
"It's risen to the level of being an emotional or gut issue with conservatives, like guns/immigration," a Trump ally said. "It's an issue that's here to stay."
Donald Trump Jr piled on with almost the exact same sentiment: "I don't think [this issue] is going away, because I don't think it's changing." He added that he would support the creation of a conservative social network to rival Facebook.
Trump has roasted Google for two straight days over his belief that the search engine favours liberal publications and it failed to promote his State of the Union address (it didn't). The noises from his team suggest that these attacks will only continue. In other words, tech could be the new fake news.
Axios said Trump may also be hijacking next week's Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing, during which Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, and potentially Google cofounder Larry Page, will give evidence on foreign influence operations. The theory is that Trump wants to angle the hearing toward an issue that resonates with his support base.
Silicon Valley seems resigned to a long and rumbling fight
And it appears that Silicon Valley is resigned to a rumbling war with the President.
Writing in The New York Times, Recode Editor-At-Large Kara Swisher said social media platforms have become such a "toxic swamp" that a clean-up job is now nearly impossible - particularly when they're in the crosshairs of competing liberal and conservative demands.
A tech exec source told her: "For one set, we can't take enough down; for another set, we can't leave up enough. One side thinks social media enabled populism, while the other thinks the opposite. There will be no fixing this."