In the last weeks we have had some seriously worrying shockwaves coming from the so-called Big Tech.
We have had Elon Musk (owner of X, formerly Twitter) intervening in a most significant way in European politics, mainly in the UK and Germany. He has suggested overthrowing the UK government, asking if “American people should liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government”. Soon after, he hosted on X Germany’s far-right candidate for chancellor in the forthcoming federal elections.
There is also news that Space X (owned by Musk) may start providing a major part of Italy’s defence network.
Then we had Mark Zuckerberg of Meta (Facebook) fame removing the fact-checkers from the payroll of his company. Even with the fact-checkers and all, the algorithms of Facebook still distributed fake news and provided a distribution channel for harmful content.
We need to add to this Russian intervention in the elections in Romania, Moldova and Georgia.
We can debate the impact of these developments on democracy; however, this debate can be left to others. On the other hand, the impact on the global economy and national economies can be just as significant and just as worrying.
The EU (and I believe Malta should take a lead on this) needs to ensure we have a home-grown competitive ICT sector that can challenge Big Tech
One consequence of all this is that Big Tech companies in China, Russia and the US will get stronger and will eventually control, and most likely manipulate, significant parts of our economy through their algorithms. They will impact the way we live, the way we spend our money, and our investment decisions. In essence, they will impact each and every area of our economic decision-making.
If fake news can be spread during election time in any country and influence the way people vote, it can be similarly spread about companies that are not friends of the Big Tech world. The illicit use of AI and the rigging of algorithms could destroy business relations within countries and internationally.
As economic regulation has moved more towards transparency and fact-checking to avoid money laundering and other forms of white-collar crime, Big Tech is implementing decisions that go against transparency and fact-checking.
As such, the title of this week’s contribution poses a very important consideration. What decisions should the EU take from a political, social and economic perspective to address the issue of truth and to control Big Tech? We cannot accept that we are living in a post-truth world. We need to ensure that our economic relations promote the common good and improve the well-being of our citizens.
In practical terms, the EU (and I believe Malta should take a lead on this) needs to ensure we have a home-grown competitive ICT sector that can challenge Big Tech. It needs to enable European tech companies to grow across borders and to give life to its Digital Services Act. It needs to enforce effectively data protection legislation.
An attack on democracy by Big Tech, like the one we are experiencing now, is worrying, but it can be repelled. However, if Big Tech manipulates our economic relations, then it will be very difficult to reverse matters. We need to safeguard the future of truth in Europe, as otherwise our national economies will be in danger.