Digital monopolies are threatening the fundamental fabric of societies around the globe- mental independence from influence of commercial and political forces.
The biggest risk to humanity in these times is the rise of digital monopolies. The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated digitization across the world and this digitalization has strengthened the global monopolies even more. Global monopolies like Apple, Google, Facebook and Twitter are platforms which a very large number of people use regularly. There are various ways in which the digital monopolies are influencing individuals for commercial and political reasons-
What you see is not free- All these platforms gather the data of every individual. If you use an Android phone, your movements can be tracked, and this data can be used to create a psychometric profile of every individual. The digital monopolies know where you went today, which books you read, what you shopped, which news you read, etc. By using AI and other tools, your mind can be manipulated. They can make you see what they want you to see and not necessarily what you want to see. Today, when you go to Google and ask for some data, it will optimise the search results in such a way which suits them. What you get to see is based on the money that advertisers pay for a certain result.
Fake Groups- These monopolies are also censoring what individuals have to say and also shut people out. They have created their own groups to censor many people who express their opinions. Censuring people ensures that any sort of dissent against is not generated at a large scale.
Crushing the competition- The war is not limited to individuals. The monopolies also target developing and growing competitors by twisting rules for their advantage. This behaviour has now been exhibited by Google by removing Paytm from Play Store. These stores have become primary places where young companies put their apps and Google is able to control what people can download. All over the world regulators are concerned over this concentration of digital power. The EU has taken up this issue and has penalised Google many times to make sure so that it does not become a threat to smaller companies.
Independent Political thought- In India, our political establishments also seem to be in awe of these digital monopolies. They call them Indian companies, invite them to India but seem to forget that the same weapon can also be used by opposition parties to rig elections and turn people in your favor. The end result in any case is that the independence of people to form rational decisions is affected for political reasons.
Conclusion-
The time has come for India and our political establishment to stand up and protect the public from the onslaught of digital monopolies. We need an urgent law for data privacy, digital residency and digital sovereignty so that all our data is stored in India and is available to the Indian government