Florida needs to refocus. Fighting Big Tech shouldn’t be the state’s priority | Opinion

On Sept. 12, the Department of Justice launched a massive trial against Google, a trial that stemmed from a lawsuit 38 state attorneys general, including Florida’s, signed onto. The crux of the case is the DOJ’s argument that Google is monopolizing the search-engine market. Early reports and an August 4 ruling, however, have pointed out significant issues with that argument.

It’s a surprise to me, and surely to many Floridians, when our leaders decide to take part in federal lawsuits spanning years and costing millions of taxpayer dollars — especially when the tech sector in Florida is booming.

In fact, a 2022 CompTIA report found that “Florida had the largest year-over-year increase of net new tech business establishments.”

This success comes, in part, because Florida’s leaders have long focused on ensuring this state is the best in the nation when it comes to fostering and attracting talent, supporting innovation, boosting entrepreneurs and providing resources to small businesses.

Attorney General Ashley Moody has done good work to keep our state safe and crack down on fraud. But it’s time for our leaders to refocus on what Floridians are really worried about.

Everyday residents are feeling the squeeze of inflation, a housing crisis and rising property insurance costs.

I would feel better if these lawsuits our leaders are so eager to jump onto against the Biden administration yielded any meaningful results. But as we’ve seen, they frequently don’t. And if the goal is just to make a statement, there’s no need to spend millions of our tax dollars doing it — that’s money we need for our schools and communities. You have to don your own oxygen mask before helping others, and right now, Florida is suffocating.

I believe in the free market. Even though I’m concerned about censorship by large tech platforms, I also recognize that government intervention is a subpar solution to that problem. Likewise, my first thought upon learning of the DOJ’s trial was to examine the search-engine market, but what I found doesn’t square with the DOJ’s claims.

Despite Google’s dominance, that market is more competitive than ever, and the popularity of AI has kicked off a whole new arms race among tech companies, drawing in established players and startups alike. Meanwhile, companies such as Amazon, Facebook and Google have continued to support thousands of small businesses in Florida with free digital tools. Florida cannot, in one breath, say we want to step headfirst into the future and attract and encourage tech companies to invest, while at the same time, making clear we won’t support some of the very companies making that possible.

I urge our leaders to focus on what Floridians need.

Winning partisan battles cannot come at the cost of Floridians and their growth. We’ve seen firsthand that national ideological spats divert crucial resources toward wasteful ends. Our state’s success in the past decade has shown us what we can do when its leaders work hard for the people in it. When the story of Florida is written, it benefits all of us for that story be one of continued innovation and economic success

Julio Fuentes is president and CEO of the Florida State Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.