Who Elected Big Tech?
There is public awareness that technology is delivering unprecedented opportunities while simultaneously undermining privacy, equity, and democratic values. An unprecedented shift in the balance of power between multinational industry and national governments has been a necessary condition for these new challenges. How else could a freely elected American president be silenced by Google, Twitter, and Facebook? How else could Facebook’s Instagram be exposed as knowingly causing harm to teenagers without government penalty? How did America reach the point where Big Tech has the capacity to mount foreign policies? What consequences for social justice follow from that transfer of power in a global economy of multinational companies and diverse workforces? By first exploring these questions together, students will be well prepared for pursuing independent research projects. (International Relations and Foreign Policy)/