Big tech wants Trump to bully Australia. They should be careful what they wish for
What a surprise. The American lobby group representing Apple, Meta, Google, X and the rest of big tech is seriously concerned about the consequences of the Australian government doing anything to their companies.
Responding to the US government’s call-out for “unfair trading practices”, the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) has lobbed up some softballs for the Trump administration to bat away, criticising Australia’s News Media Bargaining Code (NMBC) and its proposed successor, the Albanese government’s News Bargaining Incentive (NBI), as well as local content rules for streamers.
Its submission pegs the NMBC as costing US$140 million a year — a rounding error for these companies — and doesn’t even try to estimate the cost of the latter. But the whining doesn’t stop there. You know what is also an unfair obligation on US tech companies? Regulating AI. Or even the idea of proactive tech regulations around stopping anti-competitive behaviour or improving transparency (known as ex-ante regulation).
“The proposed regulations would empower the government to require digital services providers to abide by restrictions on issues including self-preferencing and data use, with trade concerns probable given the sectors initially identified by the government,” the submission says. Stop threatening us with a good time!
Essentially the biggest tech companies in the world are trying to smear their faces with orange make-up, coif their hair and wrap themselves in the American flag. They are American and any imposition on them is, in fact, an imposition on the United States.
Of course, that’s the job of the CCIA: to complain about anything that stops it from bringing back money to the US. Not for the companies it represents, mind you (they’re mostly domiciled in Ireland for its 12.5% tax rate), but for the rich and powerful who control these companies and benefit from their success. Think X’s Elon Musk, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg — you know, the tech billionaires who flanked Trump’s inauguration (and who’ve cumulatively lost more than US$400 billion in value ever since).
The reason there’s such sensitivity to this normal lobbying is that the Trump administration has broadcast its desire to turn warm, mutually beneficial relationships between countries — those that accept domestic regulation and ticket-clipping as an unavoidable part of the equation — into leverage that could be squeezed and pulled in a zero-sum game. It’s no longer about growing the pie together; it’s about Trump trying to cut off the biggest slice for himself and his new mates.
The short-term view embodied by reflexive opposition to any sort of regulation sows the seeds for bigger reactions down the line. Unleash American companies’ AI products without safeguards that break our rules, norms and cultural expectations? Continue to use your global size to crush the competition and treat Australian users like shit? That’s the sort of behaviour that’s sparked the hunger for tech regulation in the Australian public.
It’s already popular to “crackdown on big tech”, that’s why there’s bipartisan support for these policies. So imagine what it’ll be like if their excesses are left unchecked for much longer. Yes, the Albanese administration has been more bark than bite so far, but the major parties will soon realise that failing to stand up against big tech will be an enormous political opportunity for the insurgents who will.
Right now, big tech has the ear of the world’s biggest bully and is gleefully guiding him to raze anything in their way. But Trump won’t be around forever — vibes shift faster than we sometimes expect, and the anger toward tech companies for trying to act like they’re beyond the remit of Australian power is only growing. Even if they get what they want now, it’s not going to last forever.
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