Love, hate & distrust: For Big Tech the stakes, risks are getting even bigger

Editor’s note: Jim Verdonik and Benji Jones, co-founders of Innovate Capital Law and are regular contributors to WRAL TechWire.

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WRAL Techwire asked us to summarize 2021’s biggest bad moves by Big Tech and forecast 2022. We have written extensively in WRAL Techwire about antitrust lawsuits and Congressional investigations of Big Tech and proposed new laws and regulations. Yet another article on these details would get lost in the detail and miss the big picture that drives reality.

Question: What’s the big picture?

Answer: Love and Hate

Let’s talk about love first.

Love

Everyone I know loves startup tech and biotech start-up businesses.

Its part of the American psychology to love the concept of one person or a small team turning their dream into reality.

We’re all dreamers. So, we love it when dreams come true. And who objects to the dreamers making money? Well, maybe a few people object, but not many. Most Americans love watching people get rich. We love:

lottery winners
billionaires launching into space
ordinary millionaires or hundred millionaires living in big houses on the beach

Americans are far from perfect, but historically we do seem to have minimized the sin of envy more than most countries. We like successful people, because we tend to think that “if they could do it, maybe I could do it.” Americans have been taught that the baker who makes a bigger better pie deserves a bigger slice and most people go along with what we have been taught. That philosophy has brought prosperity to many generations.

But we wouldn’t be writing about Big Tech’s issues if everyone loved Big Tech. This brings us to the second driving force.

Hate

Recent polls indicate the American public is losing faith in Big Tech and Big Science. Take for example, these poll results in October 2021 that indicate with 32 percent of Americans now saying it is less trustworthy than other industries and only 16 percent saying it is more trustworthy. The pharmaceutical industry remained the least trustworthy of the sectors examined, with 46 percent of the public believing a pharmaceutical company to be less trustworthy than other major companies, while only 13 percent say it is more trustworthy.

https://www.dbusiness.com/tech-mobility-news/poll-trust-in-big-tech-continues-to-decline/

Distrust of tech companies

Respondents were asked how much they trust various tech companies to collect and use their data. The most distrusted tech companies are TikTok (59%), Facebook (58%), and Twitter (55%).
The higher a respondent’s educational attainment, the more they distrust tech companies. Americans with post-graduate degrees are the most distrustful of Facebook (73%) compared to high school graduates (49%).

https://www.thecgo.org/research/tech-poll/

A recent national poll of consumer trust in the major tech companies by Fortune and Harris revealed that no major tech company among those surveyed (Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft) can claim that more than half of consumers trust them with their personal data.

I could cite many more pools citing similar results.

https://www.clarip.com/blog/harris-poll-trust-big-tech/

The movie industry, which is increasingly integrated with Big Tech, is suffering from a similar decline in trust as evidenced by huge losses for many big budget highly touted film failures in 2021.

https://thenewamerican.com/spielbergs-politically-correct-west-side-story-flops-with-audiences/

Why?

So, the Big Question that will drive the future of these industries is: Why are Americans starting to hate what they once loved?

Some people say it’s because these industries are too rich, too big and too successful. I have a slightly different take. I credit comedian Robin Williams who popularized the thought that “Cocaine is God’s way you are making too much money.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcxcJu1CJgI

People who make money by being totally dedicated to producing useful products and services are loved. But money isn’t everything in life. After people get too much money, they often begin craving other things. Like controlling other people and imposing their values on other people. When the people you are controlling are your customers, you are headed for a big fall.

That’s how I explain the lawsuits and investigations and proposed regulations for Big Tech that we saw in 2021 and why I predict more of the same in 2022. Of course, having lots of money can help delay the adverse effects of a popular uprising, but eventually the restless natives win and the politicians you buy with lobbying dollars will turn against you.

That’s my forecast for Big Tech in 2022. Fighting a rear guard action to delay defeat by a popular uprising of the customers they disdain.

What’s the remedy?

Just go back to making a profit by useful products and forget about controlling your customers.

I tend to doubt that Big Tech will follow that advice. Control is as addictive as cocaine.