The Presidential Candidates Need a Plan for Big Tech That Isn’t “Break Up Big Tech”

What is the agenda that provides hope and opportunity for Americans in a new digital-based economy? So far, much of the campaign focus on the new economy has been reduced to a misleadingly simple “break ‘em up!” solution for Big Tech. But the practical problems created by the digital economy are more complex and how we evolve from policies designed for an industrial era to policies designed for an information era is a simmering challenge that will come to a boil under the next President. As we participate in this democratic process, we should also be asking the candidates how they intend to preserve our democracy in the digital era. Do the candidates recognize the correlation between increase in political polarization, the increase in wealth disparity and the introduction of new technology? If so, how would they govern amidst those realities? If these issues are important – and I believe they are – it is time for the candidates to tell us what they would do. Give us their vision of the blueprint for democracy, opportunity, fairness, and competition in the digital economy.

[Tom Wheeler was chairman of the Federal Communications Commission from 2013-2017. He is currently a senior fellow at Harvard Kennedy School Shorenstein Center and a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution]