Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said in a new interview that corporate behemoths like Google have far more power than mega companies of the 20th century.
“If you look at some of these companies, like Google, and look at the footprint that they have, they don’t necessarily offend historical antitrust law because the antitrust law is focusing on jacking up prices on people,” DeSantis said in an interview with The American Conservative.
“But I would say they’re exercising way more power than Standard Oil ever did, or any of the trust of the early 20th century,” he continued. “So the question is, is it okay to have a handful of private power centers that really, really dominate our society? And is it appropriate to have something like an antitrust principle applied there? I think it probably would be appropriate.”
Other officials and lawmakers in both parties have also called to rein in Big Tech companies. In his State of the Union speech, President Biden boosted an antitrust reform proposal targeting tech giants and called on Congress to “prevent big online platforms from giving their own products an unfair advantage.”
A group of GOP lawmakers backed a set of proposals last year that would aim to give antitrust enforcers more power to rein in tech giants.
DeSantis also spoke about his ongoing feud with Disney, which sued him last month alleging that he harmed its business. DeSantis said in the interview that the Reedy Creek Improvement District, the 25,000 acres that Disney has owned and self-governed for decades, was “corporate welfare.”
“It is corporate welfare,” DeSantis said. “We are under no obligation as a state to continue that arrangement.”
DeSantis signed legislation earlier this year to replace the Reedy Creek Improvement District with The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, a board appointed by DeSantis to oversee Disney. The new board voted last month to void previous agreements Disney made with the Reedy Creek Improvement District, which prompted Disney to sue the Florida governor.