The US-China Techlash: How Big Tech entered the Systemic Conflict

We are potentially entering the beginnings of a new tech age. Politics is fast-tracking a positional clawback. Power is transitioning away from big tech.

This is a tale of two cities reclaiming lost leverage and organising their tech sectors for the systemic struggle between democracy and autocracy.

In Beijing, the Chinese Communist Party is cracking down on big tech. It stopped Ant Financial’s IPO in its tracks, forced Alibaba founder Jack Ma to disappear for several months, placed record fines, investigated its biggest ride-hailing app Didi straight after its IPO, and announced sweeping regulatory changes for the online education sector and food delivery services. The current communist barrage against the Chinese tech sector is relentless.

In Washington DC, the winds have also changed. President Joe Biden is shifting the antitrust environment to reign in big tech. He has put into place Lina Khan, a big tech critic, as chairperson of the Federal Trade Commission and nominated Jonathan Kanter, known for legal action against Google, as antitrust chief for the Department of Justice. In addition, he has recently signed an executive order, entailing 72 actions and recommendations, aimed at ending anti-competitive practices and reshaping tech competition and antitrust laws.

Beijing and Washington DC seem to be singing from a similar hymn sheet when it comes to their tech sectors. Both have understood that the influence of big tech has grown too large and that it is time to claw back some power. All things considered, this is already a relatively late stage in the game to reign it in.

However, there are fundamental differences in their approaches. This is due to the grand systemic conflict between democracy and autocracy, which the US and China are engaged in.

China’s tech-attack has two elements: geopolitical and party political. Geopolitically, the Chinese communists don’t want sensitive data to fall into anyone’s hands. With Chinese tech companies listing on US stock exchanges and giving up ownership, the CCP is concerned that Western actors could get their fingers on relevant Chinese data. After all, information is power. Data from ride-hailing apps like Didi can provide information on…