Big Tech in the era of Techopoly
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Rajesh Mehta and Govind Gupta from financialexpress said that This followed on the heels of another watershed event when Facebook and Twitter blocked Donald Trump’s account, sparking a contention of views about the tech giants’ influence and the ‘accumulation of power’
Amid the recent salvos of accusations, be it about censorship, privacy or competition, it’s opportune for India to lead and rethink the ethos of its regulatory regime to rein in Big Tech, as we enter an era of techopoly – a small number of tech firms wielding monopolistic influence over the supply of digital services. India’s market size makes it a key place for these firms to capitalise on, and this necessitates India to take ex-ante measures in devising the governing rules before these firms become too entrenched with power.
The concern stems from the ability of the big firms like Amazon, Facebook, Google and Microsoft, to own and operate a digital infrastructure on which the operations of the 21st century shall be stilted, thus influencing almost every aspect of public lives at large. With covid-induced accelerated adoption of digitalisation, the turf of Big Tech is no more mere corporate concern, but is very much a public concern.
