Big Tech is being scrutinised all over the world for its anti-competitive and anti-consumer policies. Big Tech has its command big money which can be used to manipulate systems in a specific country. They can fund those groups which influence government policy which can lead to the dilution of tech regulations. Whistle-blowers, of late, have exposed unethical practices of Big Tech — payment by one company to another, keeping a particular search engine as a default option. All this at times goes against the larger interests of society.

The issue is monopolisation by a few players. They have monopoly over delivery of information. They can swing elections and politics of a nation. Hate speech could be used to change the election results. Some of the practices violate the fundamental rights. There is scarce respect for privacy and those nations with no privacy protection laws are at a disadvantage.

Big Tech shows a take-it-or-leave-it attitude. They share data with the parent company. Under the pretext of being just intermediaries, they spread misinformation and hate speech.

They are also affecting the economics. Market forces determine the prices in non-digital arena. Big Tech decides the prices in the digital space. The value is created by consumers in digital space by providing data. However, the consumers are taken for a ride. Self-regulation has not worked satisfactorily. Big Tech kills competition. They buy out smaller tech firms. They discourage innovation and competition. They use the personal information they gather for their own benefit.

The State has to intervene and has to protect privacy, remove legal protections for Big Tech, improve the transparency about the algorithms used and content moderation done and end discriminatory algorithmic decision-making.