The governor read “tax increase” in the legislation and sent word he’d veto it. And that’s politically understandable. But it conflicts with what Newsom said in his first State of the State address shortly after being sworn in as governor in 2019. He talked about people having “a right to know and control how their data is used” by internet companies making billions off it.
No major politician is leading a charge against the tech monopolies today, although near election time there’s a stampede to Silicon Valley for campaign contributions. The big platforms ran disingenuous ads blasting the legislation as an “internet tax” — as if consumers would have to pay the government to sign into Amazon.