How Microsoft Has (So Far) Avoided Tough Scrutiny Over Privacy Issues
The “original gangster of big tech” has managed to dodge the bad headlines and congressional grilling that have ensnared its rivals by working with regulators and advocating its own solutions
By Daria Solovieva
Quietly but confidently, Microsoft is back.
For the first time in almost a decade, it’s the most valuable company in the world while its archrival Apple stumbles. It’s been lauded for its smart pivot into AI and cloud services in recent years and its acquisition of the popular GitHub software development platform. And it’s almost completely avoided the privacy debacles and questions about monopolistic tendencies that have dogged Facebook, Google, and Amazon, which have resulted in those companies facing negative headlines on a daily basis, nasty lawsuits, and their top executives being grilled in U.S. Congress.
Microsoft sells targeted ads against search results, and users have complained about how their data is secured in the cloud, the company hasn’t received nearly the same level of scrutiny, and it’s been years since its executives were hauled before Congress.
