IPPR demands action as big tech thrives during coronavirus crisis
The value of the six biggest tech firms (Facebook, Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft, Netflix and Amazon) has increased by $1.9 trillion during the coronavirus outbreak, according to research by the Institute for Public Policy Research.
It is calling for a complete rethink of how digital data is collected, owned and used in order to stop these companies dominating people’s lives for decades to come. Otherwise they will exert ever increasing control over the most valuable elements of the fast growing digital economy, a report by IPPR states.
This argues that the pandemic has caused society to become even more dependent on data, through homeworking and increased medical surveillance needed to combat the virus. The rapidly rising valuations of Amazon et al during the crisis reflects the expectation that they stand to gain disproportionately from this change.
The report adds that competition policy alone is not the answer, and that ways to pool, share and use data must be developed, so it can be used for public benefit rather than private profit. It is calling for a series of changes by national government including the creation of a new UK Office for the Digital Commons, with strong powers to regulate existing digital service providers.
It also recommends steps to bring the value created by data under local and regional control, as is already being pioneered by cities such as Amsterdam and Barcelona. Carys Roberts, IPPR’s Executive Director, says: “Crises can accelerate and make permanent pre-existing trends. The pandemic is set to strengthen the role of data in our economy, and the power of tech giants who are most able to harness it.”
“IPPR’s Commission on Economic Justice argued in 2018 that data and digital infrastructure should be organised as a collective good. Our paper sets out how that task can be achieved, through reform to regulation, management, ownership, and control, involving multiple levels of government.”
“National and local policymakers must shape the economy that will emerge on the other side of this crisis, even as immediate measures to halt the virus continue. Failure to take urgent action now could mean we find ourselves lacking the tools or capacity to fix mistakes years down the line,” Roberts concludes.
