Top Big Tech critic snubbed for key House panel in setback to GOP antitrust hopes
Christopher Hutton
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House Republicans are set to hand libertarian Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) the gavel for the subcommittee responsible for antitrust, a snub to one of Republicans’ most vocal Big Tech critics and a sign the conference will try to steer clear of major clashes with Silicon Valley.
Top Republican Big Tech critic Ken Buck (R-CO) was expected to take over the House Judiciary Committee panel responsible for antitrust, which would have positioned him to promote bills and oversight efforts aimed at curbing the power of Silicon Valley. Massie is viewed as more aligned with House Republicans who do not favor stronger government intervention to address perceived abuses and free-speech violations on the part of tech companies.
Buck told the Washington Examiner that he wouldn’t lead the panel and that he wasn’t sure about his next steps but that he intended to continue emphasizing antitrust as an answer. “I’m not sure what the opportunities are going to be,” he said. “But we’re going to continue to push antitrust competition policy.”
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Buck was expected to try to advance measures to regulate tech firms, and especially platforms accused of censoring conservatives — and to cause tensions with members of the GOP who favor a more business-friendly approach to companies such as Facebook, Google, and Amazon.
In the last Congress, Buck aligned himself with liberal Democrats on bipartisan measures that would step up antitrust scrutiny of the largest tech companies. The bills did not become law, thanks to opposition from centrists in both parties. Buck has made clear that he favors a more significant role for the federal government in counterbalancing the market and political influence of Big Tech, a stance long rejected by his party but that has gained currency among conservatives as they’ve found themselves opposed to tech gatekeepers on culture war issues.
“I don’t think you can have a free market for business without having a free marketplace of ideas,” Buck said at a Heritage event on Jan. 11. “And that’s why it’s so important when we’re talking about companies that disseminate information that we make sure that we have that pretty marketplace of ideas, and we have competition in the business marketplace.”
Buck, 63, has regularly slammed Big Tech companies as overextending their power through self-preferencing practices, restricting competition through mergers and acquisitions, and the censorship of conservative accounts.
Although the most significant bipartisan bills Buck advanced last Congress failed to pass, he did win House passage of the State Anti-Trust Enforcement Act in September, a bill that would give state attorneys general some of the same procedural advantages that the federal government enjoys in antitrust cases.
Buck, long a member of the House Freedom Caucus, has clashed with party leadership over antitrust policy. He slammed Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy’s tech task force in 2022 for not making antitrust a higher priority.
Before joining Congress, Buck served in law enforcement in Colorado for years, including a term as district attorney in Weld County. Buck eventually won his office in 2014 amid the Tea Party’s rise.
Leaders in the House intend to pursue further investigations into Big Tech’s leaders in the coming months. Rep. James Comer (R-KY), the new chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, has called for former Twitter deputy general counsel Jim Baker, former Twitter global head of trust and safety Yoel Roth, and former Twitter chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde to appear for testimony in early February regarding the Hunter Biden laptop.
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Late last year, Comer called on Musk to cooperate with congressional requests after the Republican claimed the former CEO, Parag Agrawal, ignored a document preservation request in early 2022.