Last week the biggest U.S. Internet companies flexed their earnings muscles and added billions in market value. This week expect these leaders to experience what all who achieve great success always do: extra scrutiny.
As The Economist observes in this comprehensive roundup, the era of gooey-eyed support for the wonders of the Internet age are over. Amazon’s (AMZN, +0.60%) destruction of everyone else’s business isn’t cute anymore. Facebook (FB, +0.71%) and Twitter (TWTR, -2.12%) made for a friendly platform for Russian propagandists. And Google (GOOGL, -0.63%) has hollowed out the traditional media industry, threatening democracy in the process.
