The Tyranny of Big Tech

On October 16, 2020, Simon & Schuster announced they would publish The Tyranny of Big Tech. Coinciding with the announcement, Hawley expressed his concern with political bias presented on several social media platforms exclaiming:

“At a time when these platforms are determining elections, banning inconvenient political views, lining politicians’ pockets with hundreds of millions of dollars, and addicting our kids to screens, I want to draw attention to the robber barons of the modern era, this is the fight to recover America's populist democracy. That is why I am writing this book.”[6]

On January 7, one day after the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol, Simon and Schuster retracted the publication of Hawley's book stating that "after witnessing the disturbing, deadly insurrection that took place on Wednesday in Washington, D.C., [we have] decided to cancel publication of The Tyranny of Big Tech." Additionally, the company expressed how they "cannot support Senator Hawley after his role in what became a dangerous threat to our democracy and freedom."[7][8] Hawley rebuked the decision on Twitter, describing the action as "Orwellian." Hawley also defended his actions as "representing [his] constituents" and that he would "see [Simon and Schuster] in court" for breach of contract and restricting his First Amendment rights.[9]

On January 18, conservative publisher Regnery Publishing picked up the book. Publisher and Regnery’s president Thomas Spence expressed concern about Simon & Schuster's lack of editorial courage stating that “[i]t’s discouraging to see them cower before the ‘woke mob,’ as Senator Hawley correctly calls it. Regnery is proud to stand in the breach with him. And the warning in his book about censorship obviously couldn’t be more urgent.”[3] The book will be published in the spring of 2021. [10]