How Much Control Does Big Tech Have on Politics?
When you think of the largest and most prominent tech companies, who comes to mind? Chances are The Four Horsemen — Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Apple — were somewhere on that list. Their dominant positions within emerging technological markets, strong user influence, and ability to infiltrate our daily lives have granted them a strong presence not just in the technical sphere, but in government, too.
The internet began as a symbol of democracy allowing freedom of speech, increased common knowledge, and objective control over what users do/don’t consume, many users — including myself — identify the internet as a transparent forum to increase communication. However, as tech companies such as The Four Horsemen monopolized their products and services, they’ve turned the internet anti-democratic, resulting in their authoritarian control.
Langdon Winner states in, Politics of Artifacts, “…the stern advice commonly given those who flirt with the notion that technical artifacts have political qualities: What matters is not technology itself, but the social or economic system in which it is embedded.” The Four Horsemen have established themselves as the center of technological power, which is also aligned with political power.
In 2020 alone Amazon spent $18 million to lobby the U.S. government to increase their corporate presence and additional delivery systems such as drones. As these companies’ power increases online, so does their political presence which can impact societal views on different topics. For example, during the 2016 election, Facebook allowed widespread disinformation on the presidential candidates by Russian hackers through ads and accounts reaching over 126 million Americans. This potentially skewed various viewers’ perceptions of the respective candidates.
Our growing dependence on The Four Horsemen's products and services can change what information we absorb, social networking, and consumer markets. They’ve used the internet as a way to monopolize their power and thus make political actions to increase profit and prevent potential policies to obstruct their influence on consumers.
The United States government is the only institution that has the means to stop this widespread unbalance of power through the creation of pro-competition regulations — similarly imposed by the UK government. This would allow a greater footprint of smaller competition and foster more diverse technological growth. Without these regulations, big tech, like The Four Horsemen, would continue to dominate their industry and prevent smaller companies from gaining leverage within their services and products.
