Big tech was in the spotlight once again at one of the biggest annual gatherings of conservative politicians and personalities.
In speeches at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), elected officials, including Sens. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., focused on big technology and the legal immunity enjoyed by companies under Section 230, which is currently being considered by the Supreme Court.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Co., said in her speech Saturday: “I have called for the removal of 230 protections from these big tech companies that hide behind section 230, and act as publishers rather than publishers.”
But unlike last year’s conference, the speakers shied away from pushing a grand utopian vision of a conservative “shadow economy” shielded from the power of progressive values.
Instead, business leaders and elected officials shared a more worn-out perspective, criticizing the failed promises of technologies like cryptocurrency, which many conservatives embraced last year. They also recognized the lopsided odds of competing with tech giants and the difficulties of turning startups into companies that can eventually scale and prosper independently of politically motivated investors.
Devin Nunes, CEO of former President Donald Trump’s Truth Social, spoke openly onstage Friday about the struggles his and other companies face in the conservative «parallel economy.»
«The key was, could we build something that big tech couldn’t knock down and couldn’t stop?» he said. «I’ll tell you there are real headwinds that we’re learning, and I think that’s where Congress needs to look.»
At last year’s CPAC, Truth Social and conservative Twitter clone Gettr were front and center, and conservatives raved about the idea of creating an alternative world in technology where conservatives could bypass what they saw as censorship and speak freely. about their beliefs and values.
Since then, crypto markets have crashed, Elon Musk has taken over Twitter, and Meta decided that Trump could be allowed back on his platforms, leaving the feasibility of a parallel digital economy in doubt for most conservatives.
But not every Big Tech was a target. Speakers repeatedly praised Musk’s Twitter and specifically the «Twitter Files» project, in which Musk released internal records on Twitter’s former regime through various journalists and pundits in an attempt to illustrate political censorship at the company.
LibsofTikTok creator Chaya Raichik criticized how big tech has treated her accounts, while bragging about her following on those platforms and promoting her book sold on Amazon.
Outside of Nunes’s appearance, Truth Social did not appear to have a notable presence at the conference, and Trump did not mention the platform in his keynote address. Gettr, whose CEO Jason Miller recently left the company to work with Trump on his presidential campaign, was also not a notable presence at the conference.
Tech founders at the conference told NBC News they believe some companies that were part of the «shadow economy» movement got ahead of their aspirations.
John McEntee, founder and chief executive of conservative dating app The Right Stuff and a former Trump administration official, said he thought some people who started companies to replace existing tech companies might not have understood the difficulties.
“I think a lot of people here were like, ‘oh, we can do that,’ without realizing how difficult the technology really is and how long a user expects,” he said. «They don’t understand how hard that is, you know, you want to change one thing and then all these things in the back have to change.»
McEntee said his own company is growing its user base of 30,000 users and is on a path to financial sustainability with its premium membership product, but outlined the challenge of converting users who are already saturated with various offerings in the tech space. .
“It’s very difficult to get them to do a new profile when they’re already on three others,” he said.
McEntee said the initial round of financing for the company led by conservative tech mogul Peter Thiel may last until at least the summer of this year, but they will need to start looking for another round of financing soon.
Andrew Riddaugh, who also worked in the Trump White House and is now CEO of release technology serviceswhich offers independent web hosting and development services, said he believes that the conservative companies that are succeeding are the ones that are truly innovating in the technology space rather than simply offering an alternative.
“When you look back, those who worked on innovation and new user experience, or new products and tools, those are the ones you still see,” he said. «If you don’t have something that makes you unique, users will default to what people already know and use.»