This week, a video of a sparring Mark Zuckerberg went viral, but if you want to see real jiu jitsu, pay attention to what’s been happening in the nation’s capital, where Democrats and Republicans can’t see past their differences to rein in the Silicon Valley giants that both sides generally agree should be cut down to size. The problem, of course, is that Democrats are also worried about moderation of “disinformation,” while the G.O.P. is obsessed with censorship—specifically, the fear that Big Tech platforms are suppressing conservative voices. Industry lobbyists couldn’t have devised a better wedge issue, themselves.

Take what happened at the Senate Judiciary Committee this past Thursday. Once-and-future presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar, fresh off a plucky antitrust spiel at Kara Swisher’s Code Conference in L.A., returned to Washington to introduce a bipartisan bill that would allow small news outlets to collectively negotiate the terms by which their content can appear on digital platforms. Republicans John Kennedy and Rand Paul, along with Democrats Cory Booker and Sheldon Whitehouse, were among the co-sponsors ready to push it forward. Then it all collapsed in a heartbeat.