The tiny, passionate group battling Google, Facebook, and Amazon’s grip on US minds and wallets

Google, Facebook, and Amazon are controlling Americans’ minds and wallets, and they need to be stopped before they destroy the US economy and democracy itself. That was the message from a dimly-lit, packed conference room in a nondescript Washington DC hotel near the train station last week. Nearly 200 tech executives, journalists, public relations people, and academics attended the event, organized by the Open Markets Institute, a tiny nonprofit that’s becoming a lightening rod for the growing anger and frustration with Big Tech in America. Here are their main points:

• They’re destroying our intelligence and humanity
• Their dominance makes us desperate
• They’re as addictive as opioids, and rotting our kids’ brains
• They’re killing competitors and other industries