4 ms·

Prepare for backlash against Big Tech

36 points by mathattack 9y ago

MollyR 9y ago
I thought that backlash already occurred in 2016 with a certain election. I find it a little scary to see how much worse the backlash might look like.
- toomuchtodo 9y ago
  For too long Big Tech has skirted regulations and is siphoning an outsized amount of profit from the economy without contributing back (Apple, Amazon), damaging the social fabric without care (Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter), or consuming and aggregating vast amounts of personal data for profit (Google, Facebook). Did anyone in tech not think the reckoning would come? “Are we the baddies?” It’s like working for Marlboro with hoodies and catered lunches.
  - iainmerrick 9y ago
    But the bulk of the population shows little interest in attacking Big Tech, and as other commenters here have noticed, the government's willingness to step in and regulate has greatly diminished.
    - toomuchtodo 9y ago
      Europe’s willingness to step in has not greatly diminished. The US government is currently a dumpster fire, with predictable results. As a US citizen, thanks Europe!
      - iainmerrick 9y ago
        I'd love to think you're right, but these companies are mostly based in the US and make most of their profits in the US and China. I don't think the EU has enough leverage to radically change the status quo.
  - lnanek2 9y ago
    Don't really follow this assertion: > damaging the social fabric without care (Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter) Without Facebook and Snapchat my parents would get something on the order of a written letter once a year and a call on their birthdays. With them they get to see daily life snaps on my story (usually funny things my wife or dog do, but whatever) and weekly Facebook photos of family events. It's much higher fidelity than written communication or phone calls and would make the social fabric stronger, not weaker.
    - toomuchtodo 9y ago
      https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/12/12/former-facebook-vp-says-social-media-is-destroying-society-with-dopamine-driven-feedback-loops/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/12/12... https://www.theverge.com/2017/12/11/16761016/former-facebook-exec-ripping-apart-society https://www.theverge.com/2017/12/11/16761016/former-facebook... https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/dec/11/facebook-former-executive-ripping-society-apart https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/dec/11/facebook-... https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/15/facebook-just-admitted-that-using-facebook-can-be-bad-for-you.html https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/15/facebook-just-admitted-that-... https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/19/facebook-social-media-cold-turkey-devices https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/19/facebo... https://hbr.org/2017/04/a-new-more-rigorous-study-confirms-the-more-you-use-facebook-the-worse-you-feel https://hbr.org/2017/04/a-new-more-rigorous-study-confirms-t... https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2014/06/30/facebook-study/11756525/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2014/06/30/facebook-stud... http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/22/health/facebook-study-narrow-minded-trnd/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/22/health/facebook-study-narrow-m... https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/06/everything-we-know-about-facebooks-secret-mood-manipulation-experiment/373648/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/06/every...
- ggggtez 9y ago
  I think being coy here about what you are talking about doesn't help your case. For example, the US election, the dominance of Facebook/Google/Amazon/Microsoft never came up, unless maybe you mean the discussion of "Fake News" that had no effect until 2017 anyway.
nathanasmith 9y ago
I keep hearing about this so-called backlash, the government is going to do this, the EU is going to do that. Yet Google/Facebook/Amazon et al's grip grows ever tighter. The bottom line is people have chosen these companies as the gatekeepers to the internet. I don't like it the least bit. Especially since it makes my life harder as a web site operator. I have to do everything I can to please the mighty Google and if I don't I'm as much as erased from the internet. It didn't used to be that way but that's how it is now. These companies have massive power and what the EU or anybody else plans to actually do about it is beyond me. We'll see.
- Kenji 9y ago
  That's because there is no such backlash. Those big companies will cause governments to create laws but those laws will only destroy tiny competitors, thus securing the position of the big players.
- ianai 9y ago
  Indeed the sharks have no teeth.
- uhohspaghettio 9y ago
  I suspect the backlash won't come from government, but from the "people". It will also not be directed exclusively at big tech, but at all tech - and to an extent all technicians. I don't see this occurring for another 5 years or so, but when (if) it does, it will not be pretty.
  - iainmerrick 9y ago
    Why do you expect that to happen? Most people use Facebook, Amazon and Google all the time and are perfectly happy with them, ads included. (Edit: added a couple more big companies) Is there an example of another business sector that was radically changed due to massive public outcry? I can't think of any. There's tobacco, maybe, but that was a long slow process of government regulation, and the tobacco companies are still around.
- gnarbarian 9y ago
olivermarks 9y ago
A third of the rise in the S&P 500 stock market index this year is attributable to Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Google parent Alphabet Inc., Facebook Inc. and Microsoft Corp. That may mean the advances these companies represent are becoming economically significant. Internet sales, for example, now represent 9% of total retailing. Above from Greg Ip/WSJ 'A Tech-Driven Boom Is Coming; Please Be Patient'. https://www.wsj.com/.../a-tech-driven-boom-is-coming-please-be-patient-1514390400 https://www.wsj.com/.../a-tech-driven-boom-is-coming-please-... Given the lobbying power of these economically important global business platforms it seems unlikely local 'government' will do very much to rock their boat...
- solomatov 9y ago
  >Given the lobbying power of these economically important global business platforms it seems unlikely local 'government' will do very much to rock their boat... They will do. They did it in the past. See, for example, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_United_States_antitrust_law#Progressive_era https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_United_States_antit...
  - olivermarks 9y ago
    Last century antitrust (and local government) was powerful. This century the only notable (and arguably parochial) antitrust action was against MSFT https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_United_States_antitrust_law#21st_century https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_United_States_antit... We are now in a far more globalized economy, and the US profits from the dominant FMAG stocks and hegemony. The EU will definitely attack this, whether they have teeth is questionable.
thisisit 9y ago
> There was a challenge to this idea at the end of the 20th century, when business school academics the late C.K. Prahalad and Gary Hamel claimed that the era of conglomerates was over. > Although many large companies were broken up on the back of this mantra, there is little dispute that size is back - with a vengeance. I think it's always a mistake to use a singular data point to proclaim if something is dead. That said, consolidation has become the new norm. Companies and executives trying to either get into every other market or consolidating by buying other companies, hoping synergies will help them keep afloat. This all seems like a mistake. Most of the consolidating companies don't achieve the "synergy" dream and end up with huge amount of debt. So, companies end up being sold for parts ie broken all over again. As for the companies getting into every business imaginable, well, they end up spreading too far too thin without relevant expertise. In the end, there is no choice but to sell the loss making unit.
- mathattack 9y ago
  Business school academics with consulting practices will say anything to push their agendas. :-)

36 points by mathattack 9y ago

I thought that backlash already occurred in 2016 with a certain election. I find it a little scary to see how much worse the backlash might look like.

toomuchtodo 9y ago
For too long Big Tech has skirted regulations and is siphoning an outsized amount of profit from the economy without contributing back (Apple, Amazon), damaging the social fabric without care (Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter), or consuming and aggregating vast amounts of personal data for profit (Google, Facebook). Did anyone in tech not think the reckoning would come? “Are we the baddies?” It’s like working for Marlboro with hoodies and catered lunches.
- iainmerrick 9y ago
  But the bulk of the population shows little interest in attacking Big Tech, and as other commenters here have noticed, the government's willingness to step in and regulate has greatly diminished.
  - toomuchtodo 9y ago
    Europe’s willingness to step in has not greatly diminished. The US government is currently a dumpster fire, with predictable results. As a US citizen, thanks Europe!
    - iainmerrick 9y ago
      I'd love to think you're right, but these companies are mostly based in the US and make most of their profits in the US and China. I don't think the EU has enough leverage to radically change the status quo.
- lnanek2 9y ago
  Don't really follow this assertion: > damaging the social fabric without care (Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter) Without Facebook and Snapchat my parents would get something on the order of a written letter once a year and a call on their birthdays. With them they get to see daily life snaps on my story (usually funny things my wife or dog do, but whatever) and weekly Facebook photos of family events. It's much higher fidelity than written communication or phone calls and would make the social fabric stronger, not weaker.
  - toomuchtodo 9y ago
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/12/12/former-facebook-vp-says-social-media-is-destroying-society-with-dopamine-driven-feedback-loops/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/12/12... https://www.theverge.com/2017/12/11/16761016/former-facebook-exec-ripping-apart-society https://www.theverge.com/2017/12/11/16761016/former-facebook... https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/dec/11/facebook-former-executive-ripping-society-apart https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/dec/11/facebook-... https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/15/facebook-just-admitted-that-using-facebook-can-be-bad-for-you.html https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/15/facebook-just-admitted-that-... https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/19/facebook-social-media-cold-turkey-devices https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/19/facebo... https://hbr.org/2017/04/a-new-more-rigorous-study-confirms-the-more-you-use-facebook-the-worse-you-feel https://hbr.org/2017/04/a-new-more-rigorous-study-confirms-t... https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2014/06/30/facebook-study/11756525/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2014/06/30/facebook-stud... http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/22/health/facebook-study-narrow-minded-trnd/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/22/health/facebook-study-narrow-m... https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/06/everything-we-know-about-facebooks-secret-mood-manipulation-experiment/373648/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/06/every...
ggggtez 9y ago
I think being coy here about what you are talking about doesn't help your case. For example, the US election, the dominance of Facebook/Google/Amazon/Microsoft never came up, unless maybe you mean the discussion of "Fake News" that had no effect until 2017 anyway.

nathanasmith 9y ago

I keep hearing about this so-called backlash, the government is going to do this, the EU is going to do that. Yet Google/Facebook/Amazon et al's grip grows ever tighter. The bottom line is people have chosen these companies as the gatekeepers to the internet. I don't like it the least bit. Especially since it makes my life harder as a web site operator. I have to do everything I can to please the mighty Google and if I don't I'm as much as erased from the internet. It didn't used to be that way but that's how it is now. These companies have massive power and what the EU or anybody else plans to actually do about it is beyond me. We'll see.

Kenji 9y ago
That's because there is no such backlash. Those big companies will cause governments to create laws but those laws will only destroy tiny competitors, thus securing the position of the big players.
ianai 9y ago
Indeed the sharks have no teeth.
uhohspaghettio 9y ago
I suspect the backlash won't come from government, but from the "people". It will also not be directed exclusively at big tech, but at all tech - and to an extent all technicians. I don't see this occurring for another 5 years or so, but when (if) it does, it will not be pretty.
- iainmerrick 9y ago
  Why do you expect that to happen? Most people use Facebook, Amazon and Google all the time and are perfectly happy with them, ads included. (Edit: added a couple more big companies) Is there an example of another business sector that was radically changed due to massive public outcry? I can't think of any. There's tobacco, maybe, but that was a long slow process of government regulation, and the tobacco companies are still around.
gnarbarian 9y ago

olivermarks 9y ago

A third of the rise in the S&P 500 stock market index this year is attributable to Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Google parent Alphabet Inc., Facebook Inc. and Microsoft Corp. That may mean the advances these companies represent are becoming economically significant. Internet sales, for example, now represent 9% of total retailing. Above from Greg Ip/WSJ 'A Tech-Driven Boom Is Coming; Please Be Patient'. https://www.wsj.com/.../a-tech-driven-boom-is-coming-please-be-patient-1514390400 https://www.wsj.com/.../a-tech-driven-boom-is-coming-please-... Given the lobbying power of these economically important global business platforms it seems unlikely local 'government' will do very much to rock their boat...

solomatov 9y ago
>Given the lobbying power of these economically important global business platforms it seems unlikely local 'government' will do very much to rock their boat... They will do. They did it in the past. See, for example, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_United_States_antitrust_law#Progressive_era https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_United_States_antit...
- olivermarks 9y ago
  Last century antitrust (and local government) was powerful. This century the only notable (and arguably parochial) antitrust action was against MSFT https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_United_States_antitrust_law#21st_century https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_United_States_antit... We are now in a far more globalized economy, and the US profits from the dominant FMAG stocks and hegemony. The EU will definitely attack this, whether they have teeth is questionable.

thisisit 9y ago

> There was a challenge to this idea at the end of the 20th century, when business school academics the late C.K. Prahalad and Gary Hamel claimed that the era of conglomerates was over. > Although many large companies were broken up on the back of this mantra, there is little dispute that size is back - with a vengeance. I think it's always a mistake to use a singular data point to proclaim if something is dead. That said, consolidation has become the new norm. Companies and executives trying to either get into every other market or consolidating by buying other companies, hoping synergies will help them keep afloat. This all seems like a mistake. Most of the consolidating companies don't achieve the "synergy" dream and end up with huge amount of debt. So, companies end up being sold for parts ie broken all over again. As for the companies getting into every business imaginable, well, they end up spreading too far too thin without relevant expertise. In the end, there is no choice but to sell the loss making unit.

mathattack 9y ago
Business school academics with consulting practices will say anything to push their agendas. :-)