A bitter irony: The campaign has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on Facebook and Google ads to drive home its point. Meanwhile, news reports claim that a multimillion-dollar effort from special interests-including Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google–is targeting key states and vulnerable Democrats to withdraw support from Klobuchar’s reform bills. Meanwhile, Biden hasn’t bothered to appoint a chief technology officer, who might champion the digital industry. Though she won’t say it outright, you can almost read her thought bubble: Break them up! Undoubtedly cheering her on are her administration besties, special assistant to the president Tim Wu and antitrust czar Jonathan Kanter, both of whom have made no secret of their loathing of Big Tech and their desire to constrain it. In press interviews this week–conducted because, with the recent confirmation of another Democrat, she finally has a majority of commissioners to work with–Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan said that she’s ready to roll with constraints on Big Tech. Meanwhile, the Biden administration has assembled an all-star team of tech foes. On the edgier side are bills that threaten to repeal the Section 230 provisions that allow platforms to moderate content, a sentiment voiced frequently in congressional hearings.
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Oh, and once again there’s a privacy bill that would address the wanton hoovering of people’s personal data. Yet another bill would constrain tech platforms from favoring certain of their own products, a ban that would harm Amazon. There’s a bill to rein in digital advertising, which might break up Google. There’s an antitrust enforcement act that would fast-track efforts to police dominant companies, and maybe make it easier to break up Facebook. The congressional docket is filled to the brim with bills designed to thwart tech’s appetite for domination.
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The ranks of those companies are loaded with former executive branch and legislative officials.Īnd how is that going? Let’s see. In 2021, seven tech companies spent $70 million to lobby the federal government. “When I started at Twitter in 2013, most of the people I met at orientation weren’t aware that Twitter had a Washington office,” says policy consultant Nu Wexler, who has worked for Google and Facebook as well. Companies beefed up their DC presence, but even as late as a decade ago, rising companies tried to keep their existence on the down-low. That changed in the late 1990s as Microsoft found itself defending against-and losing-a huge antitrust suit from the Department of Justice. So the techies did their best to ignore the government.
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The muck of lobbying seemed a bit unsavory. The relationship they hoped for with the wonks and suits in DC was that each side would leave the other alone. We learn so much from our longtime customers and love evolving with them.ĭrenik: Thank you Dara, for your insights on the competitive retail space in beauty, what it takes to differentiate retail experiences for customers, and your advice for long-lasting successful boutique retail.The geeky founders of big tech companies used to view government as something to be avoided at all costs. Boutique retailers have a unique ability to establish real relationships, and our community is what our team loves most about Ayla.
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And I think real insights often come from those nuances. Every single time I talk to a customer in person or on the phone, I learn something interesting you can pick up nuances in these interactions that you never could in a survey. Listen to your customers because your ability to do this in person is gold.Kennedy: I would advise them to do the following: I think it’s about focusing on the basics: make it easy to shop in person, highlight what makes you different and why that matters, and make sure every experience is a great one.ĭrenik: If you could give three pieces of advice to boutique retailers, what would you share? Kennedy: More than ever, boutique retailers need to give customers a reason to come in - and that will vary based on each retailer’s specific offerings. Prosper - Life Changes Last 6 Months Prosper Insights & Analyticsĭrenik: What can boutique retailers do as a point of differentiation between online and in-real-life to encourage in-store purchasing?