Recently, The Media Institute shared a commentary by Adonis Hoffman suggesting tech should be highly regulated, blaming it for many problems faced by traditional media. On behalf of the Consumer Technology Association’s (CTA)® 1,300 tech company members, many of which are leading competitors around the world and collectively are driving economic and stock market growth, I strongly disagree with this perspective. The notion of using government to “tear down” one industry to “boost” another is misguided and harmful to the competitive spirit that drives American innovation and economic success.
Tech is tackling global challenges and improving lives for billions of people. Indeed, CTA and CES® partnered with the United Nations to provide and promote solutions for clean water, clean air, health care, and food availability. As innovators develop solutions saving lives, some media industry lobbyists whose businesses lost market share to innovative competitors push for unnecessary taxes and restrictions on tech – simply because it has disrupted traditional models.
I have spent my entire career fighting absurd proposals like this – from the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) trying to block or tax the sale of VCRs, to proposals to halt the internet as a massive “copying” device, to attempts to mandate all sorts of technologies in devices so they would be frozen in time. Almost none of these efforts succeeded. Congress ignored the NAB effort to get an FM chip in phones and the Supreme Court blocked the effort to kill the VCR. To the relief of millions of Americans, NAB also failed in campaigns to smother digital satellite radio and TiVo video recorders.
Yet, the push to regulate American success stories continues. Critics raise concerns about accountability and fairness but overlook the importance of free speech and maintaining a balance between regulation and innovation. Our economic strength depends on embracing new industries, not restricting them.
CTA supports The Media Institute and its mission to defend free speech. The First Amendment is a cornerstone of our industry, allowing us to challenge ideas that, if implemented, would harm our stock market and the retirement of millions. We would decline to the same competitive status as our friends in Europe – who share our democratic values but put regulation over innovation and have few innovation successes. Our First Amendment allows anyone to propose ideas to hurt competitive industries – but it also allows those competitors to inform government officials on why those ideas are bad for free speech, and why we need a balance between regulation and innovation.
America’s tech success needs the First Amendment. China has more people, more engineers, and no privacy – but we have American diversity, ingenuity, flexibility, and a bias toward improving everything. We pivot. We advance. We want new ideas, business models, and technologies to flourish. That is why our tech industry, internet companies, pharmaceuticals, content creators, and music dominate much of the world. This is one big reason why the U.S. consistently out-invents and out-performs other societies that do not prioritize the right to speech.
The First Amendment fosters innovation in America, allowing new ideas and technologies to thrive. It empowers U.S. tech companies by protecting their ability to innovate without fear of censorship, enabling diverse voices and perspectives to contribute to tech progress. It allows companies to compete where consumers win. Our free expression fuels creativity, collaboration, and competition, driving economic growth and America’s leadership in the global tech industry.
Critics bash tech companies for controlling speech, but these platforms have democratized communication. Today, ordinary citizens can reach millions without needing to own a TV or radio station, or convincing a major newspaper to publish their opinions. These platforms enable more speech, not less, and have opened new avenues for diverse voices.
With too much government regulation comes the very real risk of silencing individuals’ voices while having taxpayers pay into a media model beholden to government narratives. For instance, mandating AM radio in cars with zero safety evidence shows AM’s weakness – no other media is mandated. Policymakers should support a thriving economy rather than stifling independent voices.
If we want to talk about fairness, rather than mandating AM radio, we should ensure that American commercial broadcasters join the developed world and pay recording artists for the songs they play. More, it is past the time that broadcasters, like wireless carriers do, should pay market value for the public spectrum they use. These changes are fair and common sense.
Repairing our national debt, paying for our defense, and securing our children’s future require economic growth. Attacking tech, the engine of our economy, and urging other countries to do the same only hinders competitiveness, hurts our military funding, and poisons our shared future.
The key is striking the right balance between regulation and freedom – so that we protect innovation and uphold the rights of the American people. Media companies have a vital role to play in this effort. By coming together to protect free speech and support innovation, they can help ensure our nation remains a leader in both media and technology. A shared commitment to these principles can help safeguard our future and continue to drive progress.
Gary Shapiro is the CEO of the Consumer Technology Association – North America’s largest technology trade association – and author of The New York Times best-selling books Ninja Innovation: The Ten Killer Strategies of the World’s Most Successful Businesses and The Comeback: How Innovation Will Restore the American Dream. Shapiro’s upcoming book, Pivot or Die: How Leaders Thrive When Everything Changes, will be available on Oct. 8, 2024.