Silicon Valley is welcoming the election of Joe Biden as US president even as it girds for a series of battles over tech policy in Washington.
The transition comes amid a growing "techlash" as lawmakers and policymakers struggle over antitrust enforcement, social media regulation, immigration and other contentious issues.
"Tech companies are happy with the outcome but there is some trepidation as well," said Bob O'Donnell, analyst at Technalysis Research.
O'Donnell said scrutiny of tech giants will likely continue or even intensify in Washington regardless of which party is in power.
Darrell West of the Brookings Institution's Center for Technology Innovation said "both Republicans and Democrats have complaints about how the sector is operating and there is going to be more oversight and regulation."
Nonetheless, praise poured in for Biden after his victory from key tech leaders including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Microsoft president Brad Smith and Facebook's number two Sheryl Sandberg.
Many progressives have pushed for an aggressive stand over concerns that Silicon Valley firms have grown too powerful, leading to greater economic inequality.
At the same time, the Biden campaign has cultivated ties with current and former tech personalities; and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris has ties to the sector, including her friend Sandberg of Facebook and her brother-in-law Tony West, Uber's chief legal officer.
Here are tech issues likely to confront the Biden administration:
- Antitrust -
Potentially the biggest threat to the sector is on antitrust -- specifically the idea voiced by some Democrats of breaking up the largest technology firms.
"Companies like Apple, Google and Facebook are going to have a rougher time," said Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights & Strategy.
While ..
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