People seeking government protections from market competition generally tell a story about the nobility of their work and how society suffers if the protection-seekers face competition. The Bell System monopoly argued that rural America would lose telephone service if MCI was allowed to provide long distance service. Google, Facebook et al. argued that net neutrality regulations were critical to preserving the internet. Rivals to these tech companies are making similar arguments for platform neutrality, arguing that neutralizing successful tech companies is critical for innovation and even the survival of democracy.

Read Dr. Mark Jamison’s full blog post online at AEI.