Abstract
Big Tech is increasingly described as an oligarchy. In this Forum Article in Science as Culture, we examine how news media in the EU and the US frame antitrust enforcement against Big Tech. We find that much of the coverage is does not grapple with the oligarchic aspects of the technology giants: it treats antitrust enforcement as a technical problem of market efficiency rather than a democratic and structural challenge. Explicitly power-critical frames are somewhat more common in the US outlets we analyze, while EU-focused outlets defer more to legal and technocratic authority. These findings, we argue, speak to core themes within science and technology studies.
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Elena Escalante-Block and Trym Nohr Fjørtoft
Softening the oligarchy: the normalization of Big Tech power
Science as Culture, 2026