What lies in store for Big Tech under Donald Trump?
Donald Trump’s ongoing appointments to key positions (an anti-vaxxer overseeing Health, a man facing criminal charges as Attorney General, an oilman heading up Energy, a fight organizer for Education, etc.), is fueling speculation about the future that awaits the technology sector. Or the US. Or the world.
In the first place, we should be wary about the decisions of a near senile man incapable of reading anything longer than a text message, and expect that, as this cartoon suggests, policy will be set by his advisers, who are pursuing their own interests.
In other words, Big Tech can expect policies based not so much on a coherent vision for the sector, and instead favors for some and problems for others. Bad news for Google and Meta, and perhaps better for Apple, given that Tim Cook seems to have a good relationship with Trump. And of course, even better news for Elon Musk, who has basically bought his way into the government of what is still the most powerful country in the world As the saying goes, the United States has the best democracy money can buy.
Should a country’s technology policy depend on a CEO’s relationship with the president? No. Regulation is a powerful weapon, loaded with possibilities and dangers, and to approach it in this way is like putting a machine gun in the hands of a chimpanzee.
