IBM’s Ginni Rometty joins chorus demanding regulation for consumer tech giants

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg can’t seem to catch a break these days. He, along with other consumer tech giants like Amazon and Google, were reportedly lambasted by IBM CEO Ginni Rommetty  over their collection of user data and urged governments to target regulation at those companies.

Both Bloomberg and CNBC reported on Monday that Rommetty, without naming names, pointed to the “irresponsible handling of personal data by a few dominant consumer-facing platform companies” as the cause of a “trust crisis” between users and tech companies.”

Rometty’s comments were  given at a Brussels event with top EU officials and come on the heels of similar statements by Apple CEO Tim Cook, who in October slammed Silicon Valley rivals over their use of data, equating their services to “surveillance.”

“In regulating tech, government needs to focus on fixing the real problem,” Rometty was quoted as saying. “And that is the irresponsible handling of personal data by a few dominant consumer-facing platform companies. Addressing the weakest link – should not define the digital economy.

“On liability, new thinking is needed,” she continued. “Collectively, dominant online platforms have more power to shape public opinion than newspapers or the television ever had, yet they face very little regulation or liability.”