The tragedy of tech companies: Getting the regulation they want

American technology companies today find themselves in a conundrum Oscar Wilde identified: “There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.” The tech companies—both networks and the platform services that ride on them—have run the table in Washington as multiple government agencies and Congress repeatedly walked away from regulatory oversight. The result has been the digital companies’ discovery of Wilde’s second tragedy. 

For over a decade, tech companies have spread the fiction that “digital is different,” and would be hampered by public interest regulation. The consequences of the success of the companies’ anti-regulation efforts are now becoming obvious: the cartelization of what should be competitive markets. Having achieved their goal of keeping government oversight away, the digital companies are discovering that winning everything can be a curse, just like Wilde warned. As a result, the very same companies that championed a no-regulation agenda are now asking Congress for federal rules—albeit rules on the companies’ terms. The reason: the digital companies have had such a total victory at the federal level as to leave a policy void in protecting consumers and competition. That void is being filled by the states. The realization that the complete absence of rules could actually not be in the best interest of the digital companies has moved them from a “do not touch us” position to one of “we need uniform rules.” Now that the companies have abandoned the spin that regulation hurts innovation, the opportunity arises to explore meaningful regulation.

[Tom Wheeler is the former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission]