Why are Big Tech companies a threat to human rights?

Summary

Big Tech or big technology companies like Meta, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple influence how we access and interact on the internet. They control key sectors such as search, social media, cloud computing, e-commerce and mobile phone production systems. Access to these services is almost as important to our rights and livelihoods as daily utilities such as water and electricity. Our new briefing, ‘Breaking up with Big Tech,’ outlines how this concentration of power affects human rights. What does this market power dominance look like? Outside China, these five companies hold significant market share in different digital markets. Google dominates in search, video, web browsing, mobile (operating systems and app distribution), and online advertising. Meta in social media, messaging services and online advertising. Microsoft in cloud and desktop operating systems. Amazon in e-commerce and cloud. Apple in mobile ecosystems (smartphones, operating system and app distribution) and health and fitness tracking. These companies are also consolidating their power through the rapid expansion of generative artificial intelligence (AI) where they are not just AI developers but landlords of the digital infrastructure on which all generative AI and AI developers depend. How is their dominance built? As documented in our Surveillance Giants report, Meta and Google’s dominance is linked to its data harvesting capabilities. Through platforms like Facebook and Instagram, Meta influences how we seek and share information, engage in debate, and participate in society. Google has built its market dominance on extensive data collection through its search and online advertising services. The dominance of both Meta and Google is underpinned by extraction and accumulation of vast amounts of data that allows them to serve us highly personalised content and advertising, through a practice called profiling. Under these models we may not be charged for their services, but we pay with our pe...