Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney had some biting phrases on Friday for tech executives who’re fawning over US president-elect Donald Trump, accusing them of enjoying good to push anti-competitive coverage to the detriment of the remainder of us.
“After years of pretending to be Democrats, Big Tech leaders at the moment are pretending to be Republicans, in hopes of currying favor with the brand new administration,” Sweeney mentioned in a publish on X. “Beware of the scummy monopoly marketing campaign to vilify competitors legislation as they rip off customers and crush opponents.”
Google and Apple are amongst Trump’s new tech trade admirers: Both are donating $1 million to the inauguration, with Apple CEO Tim Cook reportedly making the contribution personally. Sweeney and Epic have been battling each corporations for years over smartphone software program distribution.
The quick model is that Sweeney desires to promote video games on iPhones and Android telephones with out utilizing Apple and Google’s official shops and fee processing programs—or paying a charge for the privilege—and has argued that the businesses are unfairly monopolizing the cellular software program market by making that very tough to do. He’s made some progress in Europe, however the scenario within the US hasn’t budged a lot. Last yr, Sweeney vowed to “hold preventing on till there’s an final victory” over Apple and Google’s “completely damaged imaginative and prescient for the world.”
Although legislation agency Skadden predicts that “aggressive antitrust enforcement is unlikely to vanish altogether” throughout Trump’s second time period, the brand new administration is predicted to be softer on antitrust circumstances, and FTC Chair Lina Khan mentioned this week that she hopes Amazon and Meta will not be handed a “sweetheart deal” in upcoming antitrust trials.
Probably not coincidentally, Amazon and Meta have each made their very own million-dollar Trump inauguration donations, with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg additionally loosening Facebook content material moderation insurance policies in an apparent try and please the brand new administration.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang mentioned lately that he’d like to personally congratulate Trump, and that the GPU maker will do every part it could possibly “to assist this administration succeed,” though Nvidia hasn’t introduced plans to donate to the inauguration.
Trump himself has commented on the perspective change from huge tech leaders. “The first time period, all people was preventing me,” the president-elect mentioned in December. “In this time period, all people desires to be my pal.”
