"US lawmakers and advocates on both the left and right are increasingly calling for regulating Google, Facebook, and Amazon" (GOOG; FB; AMZN)

From Axios:

The walls are closing in on tech giants 

Tech behemoths Google, Facebook and Amazon are feeling the heat from the far-left and the far-right, and even the center is starting to fold.

Why it matters: Criticism over the companies' size, culture and overall influence in society is getting louder as they infiltrate every part of our lives. Though it's mostly rhetoric rather than action at the moment, that could change quickly in the current political environment.

Here's a breakdown of the three biggest fights they're facing.

Battle over content: Both sides are increasingly wary of the outsized role that Facebook and Google play as moderators of public discourse, as was seen following the violence in Charlottesville. In the White House, Steve Bannon has reportedly argued that Facebook and Google should be regulated like public utilities.

• Right-wingers worry the progressive-leaning companies aren't going to give their views a fair shake. Recently they opposed Google's firing of an engineer whose internal memo questioned women's aptitude for engineering jobs. They've also criticized YouTube policies meant to combat offensive speech. They see a company with the ability — and, in their eyes, motive — to sideline their views.

• A policy memo quietly circulated earlier this year by activist Phil Kerpen recommended rules to keep online platforms politically neutral, potentially subjecting platforms that violated that neutrality to government enforcement actions. In an email obtained by Axios, Kerpen said the general strategy would "get us on offense and scare the hell out of Google, Facebook, Twitter." (Kerpen told Axios that the "unpublished draft memo represents preliminary thoughts on complex issues.")

• Sen. Ted Cruz told Axios that he's worried about "large tech companies putting their thumb on the scales and skewing political and public discourse." He asked during a June hearing whether "these global technology companies have a good record protecting free speech, and what can be done to protect the first amendment rights of American citizens."

• On Monday, Fox News host Tucker Carlson said that since Google "has the power to censor the internet, Google should be regulated like the public utility it is to make sure it doesn't further distort the free flow of information."

• The left's fixation on whether fake news impacted the election has ensnared Facebook and other platforms in investigations into Russia's influence during the campaign. Top Senate Intelligence Committee Democrat Sen. Mark Warner has spoken about fake news with Facebook staffers multiple times this year in both Silicon Valley and Washington, a source said.

• There's also frustration that Facebook didn't remove the event page for the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville until right before it happened.

Battle over liability: Big tech firms are in a panic about a bi-partisan bill that would let sex trafficking victims sue web platforms that hosted content implicated in the crime....

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