João Marinotti (Indiana University Maurer School of Law) and Asaf Lubin (Indiana University Maurer School of Law) have posted Tech Oligarchs and Corporate Vigilantism (Michigan State Law Review) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
Big Tech’s unchecked power has evolved from a regulatory crisis into one concerning the rule of law itself. Shielded by the First Amendment, Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, corporate law, and contract law, technology giants have circumvented traditional government oversight, amassing a level of power that eclipses even that of some sovereign states. No longer guided by cautious boards of directors, today’s tech empires are often ruled by impulsive billionaire CEOs, who, through a single policy change or algorithmic tweak, can upend individual rights, destabilize global markets, and erode democratic governance itself.
The scale of such dangers escalates as tech oligarchs inch closer to the levers of government power—occupying advisory roles, funding political campaigns, and, in some cases, directing state policy itself. What was once a culture of innovation—“moving fast and breaking things”—has metastasized into corporate vigilantism. Major platforms and their oligarchs have effectively privatized a pseudo-sovereign bundle of rights, a set of enforcement powers that range from digital dispossessions to cyber countermeasures and algorithmic bans. A rogue corporate leader, invoking the rhetoric of cybersecurity, platform integrity, or foreign cyber interference, can now leverage the unprecedented power of modern tech giants with few legal restraints.
Yet the legal system already possesses the tools to rein in this unchecked power. Private law, long used to set the lawful boundaries of individual self-help, offers a doctrinal basis to distinguish between legitimate acts of corporate discretion and unlawful corporate vigilantism. This Article argues for reviving private law principles to impose meaningful constraints on tech companies’ growing pseudo sovereign authority. Only by reaffirming the doctrinal boundaries that have historically constrained private unilateral discretion can courts, legislatures, and even corporate actors themselves restore the balance between innovation, autonomy, and public accountability. If left unaddressed, the unfettered expansion of corporate vigilantism will not only entrench Big Tech’s market dominance but also erode the foundational legal principles that separate private enterprise from state power.
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