The Trump administration’s “America First” antitrust policy signals a return to normalcy on some fronts but also carries forward the anti-tech neo-Brandeisian agenda of the Biden administration. While tech companies should by no means be excluded from scrutiny when it comes to issues such as anticompetitive practices, pervasive myths remain about the digital economy, which the “New Right” has in some instances helped perpetuate. Antitrust policies predicated on these myths will hobble innovative companies with undue burdens, reduce consumer welfare and economic growth, and help cede U.S. technological leadership to China. While ITIF has elaborated elsewhere on these myths and the harm they cause, this blog highlights five of the most prevalent with respect to Big Tech companies.

Myth #1: Big Tech Creates Nothing of Value

In his book The Tyranny of Big Tech, Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) laments the rise of Big Tech firms, claiming that “they produced almost nothing” and that they “extracted nearly all their value as economic rents from a customer base held hostage to their monopoly control.” The problem with Senator Hawley’s argument is simple: It couldn’t be further from the truth.

For instance, field experiment research conducted by Erik Brynjolfsson, Avinash Collis, and Felix Eggers studied the value of free online services and found that Facebook alone provided an estimated $225 billion worth of value to users between 2004 and 2018. Although this value, and the value created by zero-priced digital goods more generally, does not show up in GDP statistics, the authors explain that adding only the value created by Facebook during that time would have raised yearly GDP growth by 0.11 percent.

Moreover, the experiment found that the median individual would have required $17,000 per year to give up online search services, for which they currently pay $0. This is an incredible amount of value that is not reflected in GDP. In addition, a forthcoming report by ITIF’s Aegis Project demonstrates the many ways, beyond the information sector, that Big Tech companies create massive value for society through investment and risk-taking.

Myth #2: Big Tech Has Been Harmful to Workers

Another common myth circulated among the American public is that Big Tech has been harmful to workers and employment. As Hawley claims in his book, these companies generate “enormously high returns—while employing a tiny number of workers, all things considered.” Since when did employing more workers than a sector needs to serve U.S. consumers become a good thing? By this logic, Senator Hawley should support the historic practice of “featherbedding,” where unions required employers to hire more labor than necessary to perform minimal work.

More generally, many contend that increased technological progress will lead to automation that reduces employment. Again, when did productivity become bad? Surely Senator Hawley does not want a stagnant, Luddite economy. Moreover, not only is it true that Big Tech companies compensate workers well, but they also create many jobs in the United States indirectly. Worrying about how labor-saving technology affects employment is nothing new—and is as overblown as ever.

For example, full-time “digital creator” employment, which gave workers additional opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic, grew from 200,000 to 1.5 million between 2020 and 2024, a 650 percent increase. This growth is enabled and supported by the platforms and operating systems created by Big Tech companies. These jobs often have flexible hours, high earning potential, and remote work possibilities that support families.

Myth #3: Big Tech Doesn't Invest

A common attack on Big Tech platforms is that they are able to maintain high profits without having to invest significantly because they are protected from competition by high entry barriers, switching costs, and network effects. However, recent research shows that Big Tech platforms have continued to invest significantly in R&D over time.

In fact, a new Antitrust Law Journal article by Jorge Padilla, Douglas Ginsburg, and Koren Wong-Ervin provides data on R&D expenditures by firms in several major sectors of the economy. They find that absolute expenditure on R&D by Big Tech companies increased 19 percent annually between 2000 and 2022 and has far outstripped other industries. As a percentage of revenues, R&D spending for Big Tech was as high in 2022 as it was in 2000, about 13 percent, even though their revenues have grown dramatically.

Indeed, Alphabet—parent company of Google—alone spent over $45 billion on R&D in 2024, according to the EU’s R&D Scoreboard. All these facts belie the claim that large tech platforms are resting on high rents and maintaining high profits by reducing investment.

Myth #4: Big Tech Enjoys Entrenched Monopoly Power

That Big Tech enjoys entrenched monopoly power is a commonly repeated, yet easily refuted, claim. Vigorous rivalry across the tech industry continues to abound, as these large firms put steep competitive pressures on one another in many markets.

For example, Google and Amazon offer competing comparison-shopping services; Apple and Google compete in the market for mobile devices; Google, Amazon, and Meta compete strenuously in digital advertising; Microsoft, Amazon, and Google have an intense rivalry in cloud computing; and so on. Moreover, all the web platforms compete fiercely for user attention and engagement, which are the primary sources of their revenue.

In addition, not only do they compete with one another in existing markets, but they are all competing vigorously in the new wave of AI innovation, which is disrupting their preexisting business models and requiring them to remain on the cutting edge—or face obsolescence.

Myth #5: Big Tech Spends Disproportionately on Lobbying and Has Captured Washington

Finally, much is made of the fact that Big Tech firms are among the highest total spenders on lobbying. For some, this constitutes Big Tech’s “unmatched lobbying power” and “unchecked influence.” This claim is often asserted as proof that Big Tech has captured Washington and that we are living in a “Tech Oligarchy.”

However, as ITIF has previously demonstrated, Big Tech firms spend no more on lobbying as a percentage of revenues than firms in other industries do, many of which pool their lobbying resources in trade associations, such as those for realtors, health insurance companies, and auto dealers.

Moreover, rather than having engaged in successful regulatory capture, these firms have continued to be the targets of monumental antitrust cases since the first Trump administration. Indeed, the second Trump administration has moved forward with cases against Big Tech and inquiries into its power with the same gusto as the Biden administration.

The Dangers of Misplaced Anger

Wayward antitrust policies influenced by these anti-Big Tech myths are liable to harm innovation and economic growth. Big Tech companies create enormous value for consumers, support new employment opportunities across the economy, and invest tremendous resources in R&D.

Furthermore, dynamic competition through innovation disrupts powerful incumbents and safeguards the economy from stagnation at the hands of entrenched monopoly power. Big Tech firms that drive much of this progress should therefore not be unduly targeted through antitrust policies, particularly if they are based on demonstrably false claims.