Donna Faye Imadi ‘22
Current Events Editor
Beyond our national boundaries, Big Tech companies are vying to acquire the greatest commodity of all: your data, which includes information about your preferences, likes, dislikes, behavioral attitudes, and much more. The greatest example of Big Tech at the intersection of personal and international security is illuminated by the US-China relationship, which further illustrates that both the private and public realm are greatly intertwined. The dominant economic and social influences in the new technological economy will affect our norms, values, and realities. Importantly, the nation that dominates the global marketplace of the technological 21st century will set new standards with regard to human rights, privacy, censorship, and liberty itself, much like the US did in the early 20th century.
The struggle for this 21st century tech dominance was on display at the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on June 30, 2020, one day after the Big Tech CEOs appeared before the House where they emulated their lack of commitment to the US side of the global economic struggle. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo slammed the tech companies for fudging on questions regarding the Chinese Communist Party’s attempts to steal American intellectual property and commit cyber-attacks the day prior. Senators Cory Gardner (R-CO) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) asked Pompeo how Big Tech CEOs could say they had “no experience or knowledge” of instances where IP theft had occurred on their platforms. Senator Pompeo speculated it might be “because there’s continued threats made to their businesses operating not only in China” but also those working in other parts of Asia and South Asia.
Big Tech is a big business. As with most businesses, their allegiance lies in their pocketbooks. Critically in this industry, however, the stakes of Big Tech’s business are greater than their bottom-line. Security, privacy, social and political influence, and the power to potentially manipulate, disinform, and divide the fabric of any society is on the line. This tension between private interest and public effect has been at the core of the stand-off between tech companies and President Trump in the “TikTok” saga especially, but encompasses relationships between Tech Giants and their Chinese-based manufacturers broadly (such as with Huawei). How does a market economy compete safely and allow intimate access to citizens’ information from companies where allegiances are directly tied to an oppressive government?
President Trump responded in what is shaping up to be a new “playbook” for Big Tech in navigating this challenge. In early August, he issued a series of executive orders proposing a ban on Chinese apps TikTok and WeChat, citing security threats because of China’s ability to access swaths of personal data of Americans. Access may be especially threatening in the context of an upcoming election where such data might be targeted in disinformation campaigns to affect outcomes. The threat of the ban spurred action on the part of American tech companies and ByteDance (the China-owned parent company of TikTok) to salvage TikTok’s presence in the sphere of American media.
On September 19, TikTok’s survival in the US seemed promising. President Trump had approved “in concept” a deal between Oracle, Walmart, and Bytedance, which grants the US majority stock ownership. The proposed deal would have granted 53 percent ownership by US companies and investors, but still did not entail majority control or voter rights for the American-based partners.The US Department of Commerce subsequently pushed the threatened ban to the end of the day on September 27. On September 20, however, Chinese officials did not affirm those terms. Instead, ByteDance would own 80 percent of TikTok Global, as well as maintain full control of its algorithm granting access to Oracle for monitoring. Prior to the Chinese announcement, Secretary Pompeo characterized the role of the Chinese company as a “passive shareholder” who would have “no decision-making authority [and] no ability to peer into” the activities of theUS company. Now, the situation is again fluid, and the struggle over terms of control will be critical to watch.
At the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Romney had cautioned against diminishing the dominance of American tech titans. He noted that China has successfully driven “a lot of Western companies out of business,” but not necessarily American ones. “The last thing we ought to do is try to knock down businesses in the US that are succeeding on the global stage. So we need to be careful . . . Alibaba would like to replace Amazon. TikTok would like to replace Instagram,” he said.
Big Tech’s influence on our social, psychological, and political spheres cannot be overstated. The algorithms used by Facebook (which hosts 1.98 billion monthly active users) and Google wield immense influence over our social networks and ultimately our sense of reality. Particularly, as we are physically limited in our interactions with people outside our immediate spheres, these constructs are more powerful than ever. Targeted ads, tracking, and sharing of personal information with other organizations, companies, and potentially foreign governments threaten our personal privacy and may threaten our notion of truth and reality itself.
What role should Congress, the Executive Branch, or an administrative agency play in defining who the ultimate influencer is in Big Tech? How does the US balance the tension between securing market dominance on the global stage in this information space, while upholding its own domestic liberties to ensure competition “at home” is robust?
As the infamous Party slogan in George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984 goes, “who controls the past, controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.’”
Today, the competition over who will control our present is as intense as ever. We must be careful in choosing those who gain the power to control the narratives that shape and will continue to shape the course of our lives and society.
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dfi3un@virginia.edu