The pressure big U.S. tech companies are now starting to feel might be just the beginning.

“The gross idolatry, or mother-of-all hall passes that big tech has received from government and from regulators is coming to an end,” NYU Stern School of Business professor Scott Galloway told CNBC’s “Squawk Alley” Friday.

Members of Congress said this week Facebook, Google and Twitter would be pulled into Senate hearings to testify on suspected Russian intervention in the 2016 election. On Thursday Twitter provided Russia-linked ads to the Congressional committee, and Facebook is expected to follow suit in the coming days.

“We are barreling towards regulation,” Galloway said. “If you notice, a lot of senators and elected officials, their backbone is stiffening.”

Europe has been at the forefront of regulation on big tech more broadly, slapping Google with a hefty anti-trust fine and putting pressure on Facebook andApple to up privacy measures.

Greater regulation remains the only threat to a company like Amazon posting a trillion-dollar market cap, Galloway said — and he didn’t see the regulatory strong-arm role shifting to the U.S. anytime soon.

“If you pit the U.S. administration against Amazon,” Galloway said, Amazon comes out on top. “The collective IQ of the administration right now versus Amazon is woefully under-matched.”

Source: Tech CNBC
'The perfect storm for big tech may be brewing,' said NYU professor