E36: New FTC Chair, breaking up big tech, government silent spying, Jon Stewart, wildfires & more
Jason Calacanis (host), David Friedberg (host), David Sacks (host), Chamath Palihapitiya (host), Chamath Palihapitiya (host), David Friedberg (host), Chamath Palihapitiya (host), Jason Calacanis (host), Jason Calacanis (host), David Sacks (host)
In this episode of All-In Podcast, featuring Jason Calacanis and David Friedberg, E36: New FTC Chair, breaking up big tech, government silent spying, Jon Stewart, wildfires & more explores all-In Podcast debates antitrust, surveillance, censorship, COVID, and climate risk This episode of the All-In Podcast centers on the confirmation of Lina Khan as FTC Chair and what her "hipster antitrust" approach could mean for breaking up Big Tech, platform monopolies, and startup innovation. The besties debate whether focusing beyond consumer prices to long‑term market structure and power concentration is wise or dangerously politicizing. They then examine secret DOJ subpoenas to Apple and gag orders as a civil-liberties threat, YouTube’s medical-misinformation enforcement versus emerging lab‑leak consensus, and the lingering psychological and policy hangover from COVID restrictions. The show closes with a deep dive on Western wildfire risk, climate, forest management economics, and how politics complicates rational responses.
All-In Podcast debates antitrust, surveillance, censorship, COVID, and climate risk
This episode of the All-In Podcast centers on the confirmation of Lina Khan as FTC Chair and what her "hipster antitrust" approach could mean for breaking up Big Tech, platform monopolies, and startup innovation. The besties debate whether focusing beyond consumer prices to long‑term market structure and power concentration is wise or dangerously politicizing. They then examine secret DOJ subpoenas to Apple and gag orders as a civil-liberties threat, YouTube’s medical-misinformation enforcement versus emerging lab‑leak consensus, and the lingering psychological and policy hangover from COVID restrictions. The show closes with a deep dive on Western wildfire risk, climate, forest management economics, and how politics complicates rational responses.
Key Takeaways
Expect more aggressive antitrust scrutiny of Big Tech platforms under Lina Khan.
Khan wants to move beyond the narrow "consumer welfare = prices" standard to focus on platform gatekeeping, predatory use of infrastructure, and structural power, especially at Amazon, Google, Apple, and Facebook.
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Breaking up platform companies could strongly benefit startups and likely help consumers long term.
The hosts argue spin‑outs (e. ...
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Secret data subpoenas via cloud providers undermine due process and should be reformed.
Because user data now lives in the cloud, the government can subpoena Apple, Google, etc. ...
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Over‑correction on COVID safety is creating a long ‘psychic shadow’ and policy inertia.
Despite vaccines and low deaths, many institutions keep mask rules and emergency powers, driven by zero‑COVID thinking, liability fears, and federal funding incentives rather than current risk levels.
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Centralized moderation of scientific debate by platforms is brittle and politicized.
YouTube’s takedowns of ivermectin discussions and prior suppression of lab‑leak talk show how fixed "truth" policies can lag evolving evidence and map too closely onto partisan lines, instead of enabling open scientific challenge.
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Western wildfire risk is structurally high due to drought, fuel load, and politics.
Record low snowpack, severe drought, and accumulated forest ‘tinder’ combine with resistance to controlled burns and underinvestment in forest management, setting up repeated catastrophic fire seasons and large carbon releases.
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Framing every issue through partisan and identity lenses blocks problem‑solving.
The hosts note how quickly people now classify any statement as ‘red’ or ‘blue,’ focusing on tribal alignment instead of complex facts, which undermines objective analysis on topics from antitrust to climate.
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Notable Quotes
“If you own the monopoly platform, you cannot use it to basically take over every application built on top of that platform.”
— David Sacks
“Today, driving prices down drives out competition.”
— Chamath Palihapitiya
“The regulators are now gonna start to think about the long-term interest of the consumer over the short-term interest of the consumer… and that’s a very dangerous and kind of slippery slope.”
— David Friedberg
“These people [platforms] should not be the gatekeepers of the truth. They have no idea what the truth is.”
— Jason Calacanis
“We not only need to be protected against the power of Big Tech, we need to be protected against the power of government usurping the powers of Big Tech to engage in behavior they couldn’t otherwise engage in.”
— David Sacks
Questions Answered in This Episode
How should antitrust law balance short‑term consumer benefits (low prices) against long‑term harms from concentrated platform power?
This episode of the All-In Podcast centers on the confirmation of Lina Khan as FTC Chair and what her "hipster antitrust" approach could mean for breaking up Big Tech, platform monopolies, and startup innovation. ...
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
What concrete legal changes would best protect users from secret government data seizures in the cloud era?
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Where should platforms draw the line between preventing harmful misinformation and allowing legitimate scientific dissent, especially during fast‑moving crises like COVID?
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What mix of climate policy, forest management, and market mechanisms (like carbon credits) would most effectively reduce wildfire risk in the western U.S.?
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How can individuals and institutions consciously move beyond ‘red vs. blue’ framing to recover nuanced, evidence‑based debate on complex issues?
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Transcript Preview
What's going on, Sacks? LP meeting?
(laughs)
(laughs)
Is it an LP meeting or are you goin' to- are you going to lunch with Peter Thiel?
A little layer poo? What a layer poo?
God, what is the layer poo about?
What's going on? It's 9:00 AM. You must be- there must be a call going on here.
Tutto bene, Sacks-y-poo? Tutto bene?
Que c'est que dice, Sacks?
Every week that Chamath is in Italy, another button gets undone.
This is definitely- (laughs)
(laughs)
Let your winners ride.
Rain Man, David Sacks.
What's going on? And I said- We open source it to the fans and they've just gone crazy with it.
Love you, besties.
What's happening?
Queen of Quinoa.
I'm going all in.
Hey, everybody. Hey, everybody. Welcome to another episode of the All-In Podcast, Episode 36. Back with us today on the program, the Queen of Quinoa, science, uh, spectacular, Friedberg is with us again. With- leading off last episode, Friedberg, with a great, uh, Friedberg science monologue. The- the crowd went crazy for it. How does it feel coming off that epic performance in Episode 35? Tell us, what were you thinking going into the game? And, uh, yeah.
Well, I was thinking I would talk about the Alzheimer's drug approval at Biogen.
Got it. Yeah.
And then I felt like I did it when we were done.
Great. Good.
Yeah.
It's just- it's like literally interviewing Kawhi Leonard after like a 50-point game.
Yeah.
Okay. (laughs) And with us, Rain Man, David Sacks, with layers, four players. He's been styled and groomed, uh, and he's in some random hotel room. How are you doing, Rain Man?
Good, good. But I'm not- I'm not in a hotel room, I'm...
Oh, your home just happens to look like a five-star resort. Got it, forgot that.
(laughs)
Um, and- and, okay, give us an idea coming into today's game, uh, with the layers. Uh, you obviously are here to dominate and- and get your monologues up.
(laughs)
It's gotta be hard for you to look at the stat line and see yourself trailing in monologues behind The Dictator.
Well, Jason-
I'm of course referring to All-In statistics.
Yeah.
Where some maniac is breaking down how many minutes (laughs) we each talk per episode.
I- Jason, I'm really happy with my performance. Uh, for me, it's about quality not quantity. I like to, uh-
Great.
... stick and- stick and jab.
Okay, got it. Got it.
What are we talking about right now?
Get at shit and get precise.
What- what- what- what is this all-
And of course, The Dictator leaving you all monologues.
What is- what the hell are you talking about right now? My God.
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