What does a second Trump presidency mean for tech?
From Donald Trump's alliance with Elon Musk, to the future of TikTok and other social media platform, crypto, AI, deregulation, and tech policy... Wow, lot's to discuss!
A few quick takeaways:
“For the first time in history, a sitting president will own his own social media site, Truth Social, and be tightly allied with another, [Elon] Musk’s X.” — Cristiano Lima-Strong at the Washington Post.
“With Donald Trump's second administration, anti-Big Tech rhetoric will ramp up and champions of AI deregulation will dominate, but expect any policy positions to quickly shift depending on the president's whims. Trump often flip-flops and changes his mind, bringing uncertainty to the tech policy space for the next four years.”— Maria Curi and Mackenzie Weinger at Axios
“The Trump victory is a victory for corporate tech, VCs and crypto powerbrokers. The implications for transparency, civil liberties, democratic governance and accountability as well as a shaping of US (foreign) policies through their interests is one reason for concern. […] Talent and academics will leave the US. The EU (Member States) should initiate (tech) talent visas that can be expedited swiftly.” — Marietje Schaake, non-resident Fellow at Stanford University’s Cyber Policy Center and former Member of the European Parliament, on X
“Donald Trump used to be TikTok's biggest threat. But now, four years after he tried to ban the app, he may be TikTok's last hope for survival. As Americans vote in Tuesday's election, TikTok's top executives believe the company would be better off with a Trump presidency than a Harris administration. Trump has come out in opposition to banning TikTok, which under a new law is required if the app doesn't sever its ties with its Chinese parent, ByteDance, by January. TikTok executives think a Kamala Harris presidency would maintain the Biden administration's policy.” — Juro Osawa and Kaya Yurieff in The Information
“Trump could bring more continuity than people might expect. […] But in terms of curbing China’s technological rise and bringing tech manufacturing back to U.S. shores, Trump will likely continue what he started and what Biden furthered.” — Rishi Iyengar on Foreign Policy magazine
“Donald Trump branded himself as the pro-crypto candidate for president on the campaign trail. The former president promised to launch a strategic national crypto stockpile if elected to a second term.” — MacKenzie Sigalos on CNBC
Big Tech is congratulating Trump:
Tim Cook — Apple: Congratulations President Trump on your victory! We look forward to engaging with you and your administration to help make sure the United States continues to lead with and be fueled by ingenuity, innovation, and creativity.
Sam Altman — OpenAI: “Congrats to President Trump. I wish for his huge success in the job.”
Mark Zuckerberg — Meta: “Congratulations to President Trump on a decisive victory. We have great opportunities ahead of us as a country. Looking forward to working with you and your administration.”
Sundar Pichai — Google: “Congratulations to President [at]realDonaldTrump on his decisive victory. We are in a golden age of American innovation and are committed to working with his administration to help bring the benefits to everyone.”
Jeff Bezos — Amazon: “Big congratulations to our 45th and now 47th President on an extraordinary political comeback and decisive victory. No nation has bigger opportunities. Wishing [at]realDonaldTrump all success in leading and uniting the America we all love.”
Satya Nadella — Microsoft: “Congratulations President Trump, we’re looking forward to engaging with you and your administration to drive innovation forward that creates new growth and opportunity for the United States and the world.”
Pat Gelsinger — Intel: “We congratulate President-Elect Trump and Vice President-Elect Vance on their victory and look forward to working with their administration to advance America’s technology and manufacturing leadership in the world.”
Marc Andreessen — Andreessen Horowitz: “It’s time to build.”