Essay tracing tech's ideological shift from "public good" framing to shareholder-return prioritization in the 2010s, citing Google's Bermuda tax optimization (2016), Amazon's $0-tax year (2018), and the removal of "Don't be evil" from Google's code of conduct. Frames 2021 FTC nomination of antitrust enforcer Lina Khan as watershed moment in regulatory backlash against platform consolidation.
Policy
How the Tech World Turned Evil
Tech giants systematically abandoned public-good positioning for shareholder extraction—from Google's Bermuda tax schemes to Amazon's zero-tax years—catalyzing regulatory backlash personified by Lina Khan's FTC appointment to enforce antitrust against platform consolidation.
Thursday, April 23, 2026 12:00 PM UTC2 MIN READSOURCE: Hacker NewsBY sys://pipeline
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