Carly Fiorina: Big Tech has more power than ever before
'I think power concentrated is power abused,' the former HP CEO said
Former HP CEO and 2016 Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina said on Thursday that if bipartisan action is taken to break up the amount of power held by major U.S. technology companies, it must be in a "thoughtful" manner.
"I think power concentrated is power abused," Fiorina said Thursday on FOX Business' "Cavuto Coast to Coast," "whether it's in business or government, and we now have too much power concentrated in the hands of these very few, very powerful technology companies: Facebook, Google, Amazon, Twitter among them."
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"On the other hand, it is also true that the Internet has been an economic engine," she said. "It's why Republicans have historically always avoided regulation of any kind. However, if we're going to take the step of saying there's too much power concentrated in the hands of these too few, very large technology companies, that must be a very thoughtful, very careful, bipartisan approach."
iPhone displays the Facebook app in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)
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The former Silicon Valley executive also said President Trump's proposal to issue an executive order to revisit a federal law after Twitter fact-checked one of his tweets would be "an abuse of power."
A draft of the order obtained by Reuters would require the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to examine the editorial behavior of social media companies and make a determination as to whether that behavior warrants the forfeiture of Section 230 protections, which prevent social media sites from being held liable for what their users post online.
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"There's a ton of stuff that's outrageous that's on social media,” Fiorina said. “There are many things by left and right -- by all kinds of people -- that are out there on these social media platforms that are untrue, that are harmful, that are illegal. All of that stuff goes on all the time."
While social media has its problems, she said, issuing an executive order is a "knee-jerk reaction.”
This story has been updated to clarify Fiorina's comments on potential regulation or legislation related to technology companies