Well, it was a long
time coming but it is here now. Big tech
has gone and overplayed their hand.
The ban imposed on
President Trump by the technology giants is now hotly debated across the
world. The most powerful political
office in the world has been silenced. Tech giants have now become demi Gods.
Political
establishments all over the world are now concerned. If the US could not do
much about it, then what chance do smaller less powerful countries have against
these big companies? Technology companies can now control the narrative. They
always could but now it is becoming more obvious. How much more power will they
control?
With the advent of
AI tech companies will become even more powerful. They can already control what
we see and read if they choose to. We can see an example of this power in an
authoritarian regime. In China the government controls everything ruthlessly.
There the CCP can silence its critics and quell any opposition by stopping
their digital presence on any or all platforms and control the narrative on any
issue.
The tech companies
may have their reasons for banning the President of the USA. But was this step
in consonance with their said policy of enabling indivisual freedom, freedom of
speech, equal rights?
The most powerful
elected leader is powerless against the might of private technology? Are we
headed for an Orwellian scenario where a big brother is watching everything
that you do?
This sort of thing
happens in authoritative regimes like China. It was unheard of in a democratic
system. The backlash is understandable. What people saw was a blatant
demonstration of power that any company or technology can wield over them.
Amidst this was the
news that WhatsApp was contemplating a change in its privacy policy. The
company declared that it will now be more integrated with Facebook, its parent
company. The speculation grew that WhatsApp will now share its data with
Facebook. If true, this is a serious privacy issue. People are already shifting
on to alternate platforms like Telegram, Signal and others.
The two issues may
not be related but one I tempted to make comparisons. They both signify power
of technology. However WhatsApp has assured its users that their privacy is
being taken seriously and that there will be no compromise in its security
policies regarding data privacy.
Be that as it may
one thing is pretty clear. Technology development has reached a point where it
no longer can be ignored if people value they data privacy and freedom. The Chinese example shows how data can be
used against people to trample on fundamental rights and target them for
achieving the political ends of an authoritarian regime.
What is needed is a robust system to keep a tab on the tech giants. Governments must be able to wield the stick in the event that there is a breach of trust. There could be national security issues involved which will need careful handling. People must get rights over their data. The time has come to bell the cat.
