Why odds are shortening on jailing a Big Tech bad guy
Why odds are shortening on jailing a Big Tech bad guy
The buck stops with government and when tech's titans crash into political power, there will only be one winner...
Welcome to Future Media, coming to you today from the picturesque island city of Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island, Canada. đ¨đŚ
Iâm the guest of The Rideau Hall Foundation to work with local publishers on ways to sustain public interest journalism.
The 36-hour trip reminded me Australia is far from everywhere, but when I rang my wife back in Oz, she was on the beach watching whales. Itâs worth it. đł
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Today, Iâm diving into why so many bad guys in kidsâ movies are modelled on Big Tech billionaires, and how this mirrors societyâs souring view.
Cinema as a reflection of changing public mood has been studied since the 70s and found to be an accurate predictor of major change.
When this collides with tech leaders openly challenging government, twitchy politicians losing control, and power shifting from West to East, fireworks are assured.
But first, letâs say hi to new joiners to the newsletter while I have been in the air, from the worldâs largest city Tokyo (36 million) and its elite Rikkyo University, from the worldâs second largest city Delhi (20 million) and leading news network TV9, from the Winnipeg Free Press (where residents speak 100 languages), the Professional Publishers Association (representing 300 global publishers and nearly US$5 billion in valuation), local publisher Grant Haven Media in Ontario, Canada, and multimedia publisher Chek Media in Vancouver Island (formed by staff and investors who bought it out of imminent closure in 2009 đ¨đŚ đ), and more.
OK. Bad guys. Letâs get into itâŚ
My kids were streaming Johnny English Strikes Again when I left for my flight. The tyrant is a smooth-talking tech savant who promises the world, then plots to enslave it.
Days before, we watched Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 on Amazon Prime. There, an evil Steve Jobs-lookalike called Chester V steals the worldâs tech and riches.
We also enjoyed Netflixâs Mitchells v The Machines, where the worldâs enslaved by an AI phone app gone rogue. The echo to Zuckerbergâs synthetic social was deafening.
And Universal and Dreamworksâ 2023 release Trolls 3: Band Back Together depicts influencers Velvet and Veneer stealing artistsâ copyright to be rich and famous.
But their go-to remains the 2012 remake of Dr Seussâ timeless Lorax, which lands blow after blow on greed and surveillance capitalism. How bad can it possibly be?
The subtexts of these films are cybersecurity, screen addiction, copyright theft, the collapse of media and the threat to security and democracy, and on to AI armageddon.
Adult themes indeed.
Hundreds of millions were spent, and earned, delivering these messages in a format that kids can intuitively understand.
And when serious issues get wrapped in comedy and cartoons that change kidsâ perceptions, alarm bells start ringing at lobbyists and retained image agents.
Theyâre paid huge sums to keep the reputations of techâs billionaires super whitey brighty clean.
If they lose control of the narrative, they know it triggers a timebomb that explodes when todayâs kids become tomorrowâs voters.
The answer, until now, has been to redouble work on ingraining addiction, with sexy new alerts and image filters. Feed Generation Dopamine, people. Quick....
Only, that strategy ainât working any moreâŚ
Techâs always felt a shiver of regulation, but what was dismissed as a chilly blast here and there for decades, has become a regulatory ice age almost overnight.
Its leaders have woken up to find frostbite in their toes that threatens to spread. Half the worldâs in its grip, even America. For those most afflicted, it could lead to a break-up.
Howâs this happened? Did regulators invent a freeze ray? Whereâs this chill coming from, and why now?
Itâs because of a change in politicians.
Theyâve discovered a new resolve to challenge techâs powerful lobby, and fight to fix the ills they visit on society.
And the reason is a combination of self-interest, and voter backlash.
While the rich have been getting richer, billions on struggle street have felt the world getting away from them.
Blatant displays of billionaire wealth and ego make for particularly poor PR when most are trying to pay the mortgage.
Buying nuclear power stations to fuel their AI ambitions hasnât improved the mood.
Add in every parentsâ fear of childhood screen addiction, ever-more expensive gizmos that seem to do less, and their data being stolen and sold for ads...
Thatâs a cocktail thatâs driving voters to demand change. Iâm with them, and so are politiciansâŚ
Politicians are expert at reading a room. They are honed to feel the chill first.
They also remember Metaâs Cambridge Analytica scandal, when data was traded to third parties to sway elections.
They are fuelled with ample examples of tech enabling and allowing misinformation to be weaponised.
The cold realisation is that they risk losing control of the rails - and unless they act, theyâll be mere passengers on Big Techâs railroad.
This critical mass is arriving as tech is hitting maximum velocity. Itâs going to be a loud bang, and thatâs whyâŚ
I predicted back in February last year that a tech leader would end up in jail. My money was on Musk, but thatâs changing.
I guess the Telegram dude won the prize, but Iâm talking about a big name.
In the 1980s, ideological besties Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan kneecapped corporate regulation, and money has seated power ever since.
Lobbying and corporate donations took off, enabling the rich and powerful to pick Presidents. Makes you wonder how much your vote is worth.
And why Musk pledged to commit $45 million a month to support Trumpâs campaign.
The top tech firms are all top political donors now, hedging their bets with investments across the political spectrum in the past year.
When their donations are added together, the big ones have been left leaning, supporting a Harris Walz White House this time around. Source: opensecrets.org.
Publishing has bought political influence for decades too, but no publisher in history has ever had the power to sway global opinion the way that tech does today.
But what politicians have woken up to, and what tech is realising, is that the payback for the payola is changing.
And now the people are telling pollies that Big Tech is bad, and their votes have an influence that transcends money.
Political elites therefore cannot allow tech to take charge.
Itâs why Americaâs Republicans and Democrats are aligned on breaking up Big Tech, even though the companies theyâre taking down are icons of US exceptionalism.
Microsoft, Meta, Google, Amazon and Apple total more than half the value of the NASDAQ, with enough cash to end world poverty.
Despite the highest of stakes, self interest means politics will act.
And thatâs why we have two (younger) candidates in Kamala Harris and JD Vance who are of, and for, the tech era vying for the White House.
But why does a tech leader end up in jail? Letâs circle back.
Iâve run a book with close friends on who the first billionaire behind bars will be. The BBC also has a hilarious podcast called Good Bad Billionaire you should listen to.
My moneyâs always been on Elon Musk, because he shoots his mouth off with impunity knowing he can always haul his wallet out next.
But as the Brazil debacle has shown again, heâs all talk and no trousers.
After threatening a judge heâd pull X out of Brazil to protect free speech, the judge returned serve, sending Musk backtracking and meekly rolling over.
Brazilâs Supreme Court says X is now complying with orders and paying fines.
Elon MushâŚ
The NY Times reported on techâs battle to keep control from politics at the weekend:
We are witnessing an important shift in the yearslong struggle over who controls the internet.
Governments are becoming more demanding, just as some tech leaders seek to promote themselves as free-speech martyrs.
But as the dust has settled, a clear winner has emerged.
It ainât tech.
Tech companies are taking down more content.
Google said it fielded more than 100,000 government requests to remove content from its platforms last year, up 87 per cent from 2021.
Meta reported the number of accounts, posts and comments it took down at the request of governments last year was up six-fold.
This doesnât include Indonesia, because enforcement of its new law breaks the curve; it ordered Meta to take down 47.7 million items last year.
And despite Muskâs free speech rhetoric, X has taken down more since he bought it.
Then there was Googleâs debacle over the Great Firewall of China? It bowed to strict censorship to be allowed to enter the market in 2006.
Despite its promise to organise the worldâs information, it filtered out sensitive topics like human rights, democracy, and the Tiananmen Square massacre, for money.
Profit over people. Money over mission. Dollars over sense. Political mandarins donât miss this stuff and have long memories.
Today, China and the US are clashing over Taiwanâs sovereignty and control over the South Sea Islands.
Cybersecurity and AI have been weaponised, and tech is the epicentre of a proxy war run over proxy servers between super-powers, that it lacks any experience to navigate.
Big Politics will act. Ultimate power rests with those who control the armies, guns and laws.
Not coders.
Theyâre just fine as bad guy fodder in my kidsâ movies.
I'd love to see the odds in that book Ricky.. definitely has been a momentum shift, and some of the anti trust cases that have been slowly moving through the gears are coming out with teeth now....