Post-Brexit Britain will have to do better than this to curb the power of big tech | Michelle Meagher
The government has announced a flurry of initiatives around digital regulation. But does it grasp the scale of the challenge?
High-street shops have been shuttered as Amazon deliveries continue apace; cinemas have been closed while viewers stream more content from Google-owned platforms; citizens across the world have flocked to publishers for information about Covid-19 while their advertising revenues are eaten by Facebook. The tech giants have been strengthened by the global pandemic. Their power grows with every click, as does their influence over policy. But if our regulators only really listen to the titans, how can they curb their power?
Last week the government said it was setting up the Digital Markets Unit (DMU) to address the multiple challenges and threats that tech platforms pose. This is part of a flurry of initiatives: the government has also launched a Digital Markets Taskforce to help the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) design better policy, and commissioned a broader review of UK competition policy under John Penrose, which is due to report by the year’s end.
