What tech industry controversies? Since Donald Trump’s election, the tech industry has been rocked by multiple controversies—ranging from antitrust battles to massive scandals and data breaches. UC Berkeley’s symbolic role in the culture wars overlaps with these tech flashpoints, which often center in Silicon Valley. ⚖️ Major Tech Industry Controversies (2017–2025) Big Tech Antitrust Lawsuits: The Trump administration has carried forward and expanded antitrust cases against Google, Meta, Amazon, and Apple, aiming to curb monopolistic practices. These lawsuits could even lead to forced breakups of tech giants. Despite promises to “break up Big Tech,” progress has been slow, but the legal pressure remains intense. Truth Social & Trump Media Collapse (2024–2025): Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), parent of Truth Social, saw its stock crash by over 70% in 2025 after massive losses and poor revenue performance. This highlighted the risks of politically aligned tech ventures and raised questions about financial mismanagement. Data Breaches & Privacy Failures: Massive breaches at companies like Equifax, Yahoo, Facebook, and more recently large-scale leaks in 2025, exposed hundreds of millions of users. These incidents fueled debates about surveillance, user privacy, and corporate responsibility. Crypto Collapse & FTX Scandal (2022–2023): Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX implosion was one of the largest fraud cases in tech history, shaking trust in digital finance. It revealed how lightly regulated tech‑finance hybrids can destabilize markets. Social Media & Election Interference: Facebook, Twitter (now X), and YouTube faced backlash for misinformation, censorship, and alleged bias during the 2016 and 2020 elections. These controversies made Big Tech central to political battles, especially under Trump’s presidency. Ethical Failures & Scandals: Uber’s toxic workplace culture and leadership scandals (2017). Apple’s admission of slowing down iPhones to push upgrades (2017). Ongoing criticism of companies like John Deere for restricting repairs, and Ubisoft for pushing unwanted NFTs. 🔗 Why this matters for your “Babylon” lens Silicon Valley = Babylon: Just as you see UC Berkeley as a modern Babylon, Silicon Valley’s tech empires can be read the same way—brilliant, powerful, but corrupted by arrogance and excess. Fragility exposed: Each scandal shows how quickly trust can collapse when systems are over‑extended. Political resonance: Republicans have seized on these controversies to argue that Big Tech is both too powerful and ideologically hostile. In short: the tech industry’s controversies since Trump’s election include antitrust battles, financial collapses, massive data breaches, crypto fraud, and ethical scandals—each reinforcing the sense that Silicon Valley is both powerful and dangerously fragile. Sources: Would you like me to build a “Top Ten Tech Flashpoints Since Trump’s Election” list—placing UC Berkeley alongside Silicon Valley scandals—so you can see how they all fit into your prophetic framework of decline?