| Hi all, it's Eric. When the pandemic hit, it seemed like it could be the end of the techlash, or at least signal a hiatus. But D.C. hasn't entirely let go of its suspicion of Big Tech. Before the crisis, David Cicilline, chairman of the House subcommittee on antitrust, had been leading investigations into the industry, questioning whether the growing power of a few huge technology companies squashing or swallowing up the competition could really be good for the economy. On Thursday, he called for a moratorium on mergers, except when they're meant to save companies that would otherwise go bankrupt. "If we do not act boldly and urgently to respond to this problem, consolidation may further weaken our economy by concentrating wealth and control at the expense of workers and independent business across the country," Cicilline said. "Mega-mergers and corporate takeovers that were permitted during the last economic crisis led to the firing of millions of workers, the slowing of investment and innovation, and huge increases in executive compensation." Until recently, arguments like this were gaining momentum. Now, there are signs that anti-tech sentiments are waning. When it comes to Democratic presidential candidates, the tech giants seem to have lucked out with Joe Biden, as I've written previously. Even President Trump hasn't been so vocal lately about criticizing big tech giants—he wants their help fighting the crisis. Big Tech is seizing its moment. Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google are cooperating to try to track the spread of coronavirus. Netflix Inc. is adding record numbers of subscribers, and Amazon.com Inc. can barely keep up with growth. Without much else to do, we're all spending too much time online, being pulled deeper into the orbits of the leading platforms. They could come out of this more powerful than ever. The further centralization of power in the hands of Big Tech isn't entirely organic, of course. This week, Fornite creator Epic Games Inc. said it would return the ever-popular game to the Google Play store. The game maker had previously complained that Google, through its operating system, disadvantages companies that don't use its app store by insinuating they pose security risks and making efforts to block them outright. Also this week, the Wall Street Journal revealed that Amazon employees used data about independent sellers to create competing products. Both cases illustrate what critics like Cicilline have been concerned about: the use of existing power to amass more if it. Now the congressman is concerned about big companies taking over smaller ones at a time of weakness. His proposal would exempt takeovers of companies that would fail otherwise, but that could be a hard line to draw. Many startups, even those worth billions of dollars, are just a couple months away from bankruptcy if they don't raise their next funding round. If buyers worry that their deals wouldn't get approved, they may not pursue mergers of companies that do end up failing. This creates some weird incentives, Barak Orbach, a professor at University of Arizona Law explained in an email. "Business operations and jobs that could be saved would be lost because of the costs of proving that a company is 'truly failing or in bankruptcy,'" he wrote. "For example, solvent companies may shut down certain lines of business that may have higher value under the management of another company. Likewise, acquisitions that may expand markets, and thus rescue other companies, would be blocked." We're in strange and unpleasant times. Large technology companies are some of the only American institutions in a position to continue to function effectively. But they've consistently shown a tendency to transform their ruthless efficiency into ever-greater power. The prospects for Cicilline's plan are uncertain, as is the final shape it might take if it does progress. If he convinces his colleagues to make a merger ban part of the next coronavirus rescue package, Congress could slow corporate consolidation, rolling the dice on the unexpected consequences. The alternative, though, may be Congress capitulating to a new reality where Big Tech positions itself as the only thing to save us. —Eric Newcomer | 
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