The proximate causes of the growing backlash against major technology companies – market dominance and under-taxation – are well known. Yet the ultimate cause has been neglected: there is no international framework to facilitate policy coordination and set standards for the digital economy.
NEW YORK – Several well-known issues are fueling the wave of criticism directed at American platform-technology companies and their Chinese peers. There are worries that these companies’ scale and market dominance enables them to buy up or crush would-be competitors. There are concerns that the taxes they pay are not commensurate to their size, scale, and importance. And with the advent of innovations such as cryptocurrencies, which operate largely outside of government strictures, some worry that Big Tech poses a threat to state authority itself.
NEW YORK – Several well-known issues are fueling the wave of criticism directed at American platform-technology companies and their Chinese peers. There are worries that these companies’ scale and market dominance enables them to buy up or crush would-be competitors. There are concerns that the taxes they pay are not commensurate to their size, scale, and importance. And with the advent of innovations such as cryptocurrencies, which operate largely outside of government strictures, some worry that Big Tech poses a threat to state authority itself.