We’ve had just about enough of getting manipulated. We had up to our neck of being sold out to the highest bidder.
The internet came to provide untethered access to information. Today, a handful of tech giants collect data on billions of people.
It’s time for users to take these companies’ reins that make billions of dollars in profits manipulating minds.
The tech giants such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Amazon have stockpiled user data, which is used to addict and manipulate users via algorithmic social feeds.
Google and Facebook are duopolies that continue to dominate almost 70% of advertising dollars. It’s a farcical state where two companies have a stranglehold over our attention.
If the past four years of U.S. politics have taught us anything, having the wrong people in power has devastating effects.
The time has come where the tech giants must become user-owned.
You know the Facebook story: Mark Zuckerberg and a few friends developed a social network for college students.
Now, Facebook is far too powerful, and arguably its impact on society is more negative than positive.
Facebook uses WhatsApp, Oculus, and Instagram for surveillance capitalism. The company uses these services for capitalistic tracking to appease the highest bidding advertisers. The users did not sign up for such services, so the tech giants sell them out.
Machines with intentions
Undeniably, the users and the tech giants’ interests are not aligned. The tech giant’s algorithms have become machines of intentions whereby they make decisions autonomously. This part is problematic. As these algorithms ingest more user data, their ability to predict and redirect human behavior would increase, becoming a bane for society.
Need for the balance of power
Facebook and Google users must demand that these companies give up control to operate the tech giants as a “democratic virtual country.” There should be yearly elections where users and shareholders choose the board of directors for the tech giants; outside of internal influence.
The users must own 50% of the board’s voting power to balance its board to protect user interest. The tech giants have made self-serving decisions regarding users’ data and data privacy for too long. Now, the situation demands that the users be privy to decisions about data stewardship.
The governments must subject the tech giants to store their citizen’s data locally to protect it from being misused or breached. The tech giants must pay “sovereign data tax” on the data collected from the host country’s users.
Community-owned tech giants
How does this narrative sound? The tech giants being community-owned. What does community-owned tech giants mean? It means that the public would operate the tech giants; a handful of corporate executives of the tech giants have time and again shown that they’re not fit to be at the helm.
The profits derived from the tech giants’ would make their way to users, global communities, shareholders, and employees. Once the tech giants become community-owned, the platforms would have the liberty to avoid political, extremist, and fascist driven advertising.
The community would also administer the tech giants; the situation would be different from now once the tech giants are community-owned. Being community-owned would prevent the tech giants from repeating Cambridge Analytica like debacles. Hostile state and non-state actors may find it challenging to meddle in the democratic election process.
Making the tech giants community-owned may even mean letting some data profiteering giants fail. To make way for the newer, more humane, and ethical tech companies that do not profit from human fear.
Rise to the occasion
As an awakened society, we command exceptional influence to bring about necessary transparency to the data profiteering tech giants. The tech giants have failed their users, employees, stakeholders, and shareholders. Society must rise to the occasion to end digital surveillance. Starting the conversation today is imperative to avoid a future we may later live to regret. We owe it to ourselves.
