At CPAC 2023, Google, Meta, Twitter, and other tech giants remained central villains, including a Section 230 repeal panel; Truth Social and GETTR were absent
CPAC showed how the MAGA movement still can't decide whether its problem is too much Silicon Valley or not enough faves
Context & Ripple Effects
The villain role is now permanent casting. After Google and Facebook disappeared from CPAC's sponsor floor back in 2019 amid bias claims, this year's conference formalized the antagonism into programming — including a panel debating outright repeal of Section 230. The through-line runs back to the [[a:923620|2017 meetings between tech companies and Congress ahead of the election-interference hearings]] that first fused anti-Silicon Valley politics with the populist right.
The tension the headline names — too much Silicon Valley vs. not enough faves — shows up in who wasn't there: Truth Social and GETTR, the movement's own platforms, skipped CPAC entirely even as their larger rivals headlined the grievance agenda. Meanwhile the GOP's House takeover plans had already sketched few new laws but plenty of hearings targeting Meta, Twitter, and Google.
First-order effects
- Tech giants' Washington teams face an activist base now demanding Section 230 repeal rather than mere reform, hardening the cross-industry push by companies like Marriott, Disney, and IBM to limit the law into a defensive lobbying bloc.
Second-order effects
- The absence of Truth Social and GETTR signals that right-wing alternatives have not scaled into the movement's infrastructure, leaving conservative politicians dependent on the very platforms they denounce — and giving those platforms leverage over the terms of engagement.
Third-order effects
- If both parties keep converging on Section 230 — Democrats via content-accountability pressure, Republicans via bias grievances — the liability shield erodes structurally regardless of which side controls the hearing calendar, reshaping how every platform moderates at scale.
The trend: Anti-platform politics on the right are institutionalizing around Section 230 repeal faster than homegrown alternatives can replace the incumbents, making the gatekeepers both the target and the dependency.