SAN FRANCISCO — The wife of California Gov. Gavin Newsom blasted Silicon Valley leaders Monday for cozying up to Donald Trump, calling them a “tech oligarchy” and accusing them of using “unchecked” power to avoid accountability for kids’ safety on social media.
First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom issued her criticism as she called for action to fight social media addiction at the Common Sense Summit in downtown San Francisco, run by the eponymous advocacy group.
“There’s a tech oligarchy running our country right now that is unchecked, where there’s no accountability and transparency,” Siebel Newsom said during a panel discussion with Pinterest CEO Bill Ready.
“The fact that we recognize that, that we’re actually outing it, in a way, that gives me hope because that means that something can change because we know something’s wrong.”
Her latest remarks come as Democrats nationally — including husband Gavin Newsom — have started embracing the term “oligarchy” to refer to President Trump’s efforts to slash federal programs in close collaboration with tech leaders like Elon Musk.
“The Trump administration is packed with billionaires enriching themselves and advocating for tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy,” Gov. Newsom wrote in an Instagram post earlier this month promoting his recent podcast with Trump ally Steve Bannon. “Isn’t this the same oligarchy that Steve Bannon has railed against?”
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, both progressive firebrands, have drawn crowds of thousands for impassioned speeches railing against billionaires as part of a nationwide “Fighting Oligarchy” tour.
Even centrist, tech-friendly Democrats like Silicon Valley Rep. Ro Khanna are embracing billionaire-bashing. Khanna, who once suggested Democrats should “work with” Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, embarked on a “Benefits over Billionaires” tour across California this past weekend to rip Republicans for Musk’s actions.
“They’ve directed these tech billionaires to dismantle government, instead of directing tech leaders to be investing in communities that don’t have economic opportunity,” Khanna said of Trump and Vice President JD Vance in an interview with POLITICO over the weekend. “That’s a failure of leadership.”
Trump and Musk, meanwhile, have continued to defend the DOGE efforts, arguing the approach is necessary to combat government waste and fraud.
The heated rhetoric also comes as California lawmakers again pursue ambitious proposals that would slap tobacco-style warning labels on social media and crack down on chatbots, among others aimed at kids’ safety.
“It’s like oligarchy in Russia,” Common Sense Media Founder and CEO Jim Steyer told POLITICO, accusing tech executives of “genuflecting” to Trump. “That will hopefully redound to the benefit of those of us trying to regulate the tech industry because I think it’s unseemly.”
Steyer said he believed Gov. Newsom “philosophically” agrees with Common Sense’s bid for more kids’ online safety protections against social media and chatbots. Both the governor and his wife championed restricting phones in schools last year, and Siebel Newsom bashed the tech industry at a conference last year for prioritizing “capitalist interests” over kids’ health.
The question, Steyer said, is how the governor will respond to intense lobbying from tech companies.
“Will he stand up to the tech industry on some of these big votes?” he asked. “I’m hopeful and optimistic that Gavin and his wife, and that the leaders of both Assembly and the Senate will come through. That’s all I can say.”
Melanie Mason contributed to this report.
