At the mercy of big tech billionaires
Hindustan TimesThe United States technology industry has shown us that it is more powerful than world leaders. The government made a serious mistake when it allowed the platform’s parent company, Facebook, to add payment services — because this will enable it to also monopolise Indian commerce. Note that Facebook didn’t dare to pull this stunt in Europe because the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulations expressly prohibited social media companies from sharing such data. That is what China did — it saw no advantages in letting foreign companies dominate its technology industry so it blocked Facebook, Google, Twitter and Netflix, and raised enough obstacles to force Uber out. Imagine if Mark Zuckerberg decided that he did not like Narendra Modi’s farm laws or Shashi Tharoor’s tirades against the East India Company — and shut them off.