How the past is shaping Big Tech's future

Battles over corporate power that played out over the course of the 20th century may provide the best clues to how companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon might ultimately be reined in. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said that the moderation of malicious content online could be overseen by an industry standards body similar to the Hollywood system for rating movies established in the 1960s. Another potential model is the body with roots in the 1930s that polices the securities industry, according to Zuckerberg’s top US policy executive, Kevin Martin. The communications chief Zuckerberg hired in April, John Pinette, was a spokesman for Microsoft during its 1990s antitrust fight with the federal government. Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes, who referenced antitrust cases against Microsoft and IBM in his Thursday NYT op-ed calling to break up the company.