Big tech’s unchecked power must be restrained, Amnesty recommends
A small group of tech companies wields extraordinary influence over the way we shape our online lives. This concentration of power has profound implications for human rights. Therefore, governments should restrain the power of tech companies.
Amnesty International argues that companies like Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple have almost unbridled power because they dominate key sectors of the internet, including search, email, social media, cloud computing, e-commerce, and mobile operating systems.
“While not all their market positions constitute illegal monopolies, their collective market power enables them to set the terms of digital engagement for billions of people worldwide. This concentration of power has profound implications for human rights, particularly the rights to privacy, nondiscrimination, and access to information,” Amnesty says in its latest report ‘Breaking up with Big Tech.’
The human rights group suggests that Google’s and Meta’s market dominance is built on persuasive dominance. “By harvesting and monetizing vast quantities of our personal data, they have entrenched a business model that thrives on profiling, behavioural prediction, and algorithmic targeting,” Amnesty claims. In turn, this leads to an ecosystem where users have little to no meaningful choices or control over how their data is used.
The dominance of Big Tech also poses serious risks to freedom of opinion and access to information, the human rights group continues. Platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram use algorithms that are optimized for engagement and profit. Instead of promoting public discourse, they have been known to show harmful content. This can contribute to more discrimination and incitement to violence.
Because these platforms are so embedded in our daily lives, it gives the companies immense power to influence public discourse and curate information flows.
“Documented cases of content removal, inconsistent moderation, and algorithmic bias highlight the dangers of allowing a handful of companies to act as gatekeepers of the digital public sphere,” Amnesty notes. In addition, it enables them to impose unfair terms and conditions on users and affect regulatory processes.
“Their lobbying power, strategic acquisitions, and control over essential digital infrastructure and markets has created barriers to accountability and legislative reform. As these companies expand their product offerings to include generative AI, their existing advantages in terms of data access and political influence threaten to further entrench their dominance in the next frontier of technological development,” Amnesty warns.
To diminish the excessive power of tech companies, Amnesty recommends that governments should launch investigations into potential human rights violations. In addition, companies whose monopoly position is known to violate human rights should be dissolved.
Furthermore, governments should conduct research into the emerging generative AI sector to identify human rights risks and the consequences of anti-competitive practices. Mergers and acquisitions that jeopardize human rights should be blocked.
Lastly, governments should assess competition research and decisions against human rights standards.