[georgemcbay]

Not that I'm opposed to new laws, but just having enforcement of the laws we already have would go a long way to fixing the problems.

The problem is how to get to the point where there is enforcement.

It definitely isn't going to happen with Republicans in power, and it also isn't a sure thing with Democrats in power either.

Lina Khan was a good start for a bit there, but she certainly didn't have universal Dem support. Establishment Democrats are going to have to grow a spine and tell the Reid Hoffmanesque donor class to get fucked.

[SilverElfin]

The current set of laws lead to the current situation in my opinion. Enforcement within the current laws means a court case that will take years and span multiple administrations, which gives it a lot of time to be killed. It doesn’t provide enough authority to immediately bring enforcement actions.

[keeda]

I will preface by saying that someone with Lina Khan is sorely needed; Big Tech and other monopolies have gotten way too Big and seriously need to be reined in.

That said, from all the informed takes I've seen, Lina Khan was seriously... flawed (putting it charitably) in her strategy and tactics. To the extent that some observers wondered if she was deliberately sabotaging the agency just to highlight the need for new, more effective laws. She did have a novel theory of consumer harm, but that requires new legislation to enforce. Instead the way she went about it -- including by flouting due process -- was extremely counter-productive.

That was a big reason she was neither very effective in her goals (other than creating a lot of noise) nor have high political support from any side.

[georgemcbay]

Her lack of political support from certain factions on the Democratic side was obviously because the big donors involved in the VC world want the option to continue to unload the startups they've invested in off as acquisitions to google, microsoft, et al.

Nothing noble about that stance, that's continuing to feed the Big Tech monster.

They are very much part of the problem that needs to be solved and they didn't like that she was starting to push for the solutions.

[keeda]

If you look into how she ran the agency, there were a lot of parallels with how the current US adminstration is being run. (Ask any AI for an overview and see the parallels pop up.) Regardless of your political leaning, I think generally we agree that is not how government institutions should be run. Even if the donor class hadn't made any noise, the Democrats were right in not supporting her tactics.