So why not regulate these companies more? First: Google and Facebook are platforms where a great deal of today’s political speech and reporting of news takes place, and regulation is an inherently political act. If you want a Technology Company Regulation Commission, its chairman and its members will be appointed by presidents and will reflect their policies.

Do presidents really play a role in regulation or enforcement? Well, you can listen to the Watergate tapes and hear President Richard Nixon direct his advisers John Dean and H.R. Haldeman to use the Federal Communications Commission’s regulatory process to take away TV stations owned by The Washington Post Co. Challenges to stations’ licenses by Nixon supporters did ensue and, had Nixon not resigned, they would have been heard by an FCC led by the former chairman of the Republican National Committee . It is difficult to convince me that regulation is apolitical.

If you want Google, Facebook and other tech companies regulated, you are asking for a system in which President Trump — or (perhaps in the future) President Elizabeth Warren — plays a role in deciding what goes on your Facebook page or what flows from your Google search. Is that really what you want?