Comment by somenameforme

They overtly and actively lied about participation in PRISM, as did all companies involved (Google, Microsoft, YouTube, Facebook, etc) because they were legally obligated to lie about participation in it. It's all just so unbelievably fake and stupid. I suspect the main reason there's minimal to no anti-trust in big tech is because it's largely just become a branch of the US intelligence services.

In some way I find the Chinese system preferable in that they're completely transparent about spying and domineering the companies within the country. The only difference in the US is we actively lie about and engage in all this utterly ridiculous LARPing that makes anybody with half a head on their shoulder just despise every player involved.

About the time a country has secret courts and is forcing private entities to lie to others publicly, something has gone very wrong with the direction of the country.