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What Big Tech Wants Out of the Pandemic
Article

What Big Tech Wants Out of the Pandemic

The firms are all too eager to help the government manage the coronavirus crisis.

The Atlantic, 2020


Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Eye Opening
  • Bold

Recommendation

Dominant tech companies have found new opportunities in the COVID-19 pandemic to reposition themselves as friends of the US government. Apple, Facebook and other big tech companies have offered to share information to augment the government’s efforts to counter and contain the virus. However, in the estimation of Atlantic writer Franklin Foer, the companies’ primary aim is to avoid anti-monopoly attacks. His analysis contends that government alliances with big tech can diminish democracy while helping these companies thwart competition. While politically charged, this article will intrigue readers who follow tech-firm regulation.

Take-Aways

  • Big tech companies may use the COVID-19 pandemic to insert themselves in government.
  • Big tech may help government with a mobile-phone warning system triggered by the proximity of COVID-19 patients.
  • Facebook and other online giants are shifting from an antagonistic relationship with government to a cooperative one.

About the Author

Franklin Foer, a staff writer at The Atlantic, is a former editor of The New Republic.