It was not until nowadays that humans recognized the power of technology, although the notion of it tends to remind us of the advancement of the present and future. As history enthusiasts, we know that technology has co-exist with humans since the early days of civilization. As claimed by historian Toynbee in his influential work “A Study of History,” technology, or more precisely, “the improvement of technique” is among the three elements of civilization growth. But since when did this élan vital become a threat to our society? 

 

I. THE MARKET DOMINATION

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        It is undeniable that for a long time, tech giants such as Apple and Google have been dominating the U.S. economy and wielding significant economic power. According to Fondapol (n.d.), they hold significant shares in their respective markets and monopolize key segments in tech markets. This in turn allows them to hold sway over pricing, and dictate trends in the market, sometimes even to the point of stifling business competition. This fact is applicable not only in domestic markets but also in global ones. The reach of tech giants’ economic power has long extended beyond the U.S. borders and permeated into foreign markets. All of this leads to the risk of tech giants’ monopoly power looming. Big tech companies such as Apple and Google capitalize on ecosystem domination, making it less likely that users will branch out to services by other companies due to the interconnectivity of the services they provide. 

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         Additionally, tech giants also collect enormous amounts of data, which allows them to create personalized services and target ads more effectively, overtaking their competitors in attracting more customers (Wheeler, 2023). Also, with their vast financial resources, tech giants can easily out-invest small and medium-sized businesses in innovation, as well as research and development activities, resulting in more optimized products and services. These factors, when combined, stand behind the emergence and maintenance of big tech companies’ monopoly power. 

 

II. FROM THE HOLD OF ECONOMY TO POLITICAL POWER

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        The dominating economic power allows tech corporations to extend their grips to the realm of governance. Tech corporations surely took advantage of the green dollars, but it would be too prejudiced and too rushed to conclude that the process of translating economic to political power is a linear flow. Any political spectators would know that in reality, it is a complicated circle with many interrelationships. When examining those connections, one should count for both internal and external factors. In this case, respectively, the nature of the tech industry and the nature of American politics favor conditions to nurture the giants of Silicon Valley. 

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         Perhaps, any critics, no matter how far they would go to condemn these tech companies, must acknowledge that in this digital age, we are heavily dependent on the services and products they provide. Consider the Big Four (Google, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft), each of them commands an essential part of our lives. “President tweeted, the stock market plunged” - Your first reaction after this sentence would likely be typing “President and stock price” on Google.com. How many times have you posted on Facebook or Instagram this week? Ironically, while this essay is written with a critical view of tech giants, it was conceived from 52 Google/Google Scholar searches and refined on the company’s writing platform - Google Docs. And to make my argument more persuasive, for the past 9 years, Google has maintained the dominance of over 90% of the market share of search engines (Statista, 2024). Covid-19 further contributes to this independence, with the long-lasting lockdown and social distancing policies, governments have been pushing for the digitalization of state functions (Fernandez, 2023). 

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        Tech giants have become gatekeepers of modern democracy. At the core of any democratic system is the freedom of expression. In this context, equal participation in public discussion serves as a measurement of the health of a democracy. Technology plays a key role in communication and maintaining the flow of information, allowing people to express opinions and amplify perspectives. In the era of information, such a position vested in tech companies the civil power akin to traditional news agencies, with the ability to channel public opinion, shape viewpoints, or direct people’s interests (Moore, 2016). That influence is substantiated by recent data from the Pew Research Center, which suggested that 43% of American adults get their political news from digital media, including social media, news websites, or apps (Pew Research Center, 2024). 

 

III. SILICON VALLEY, THE CAPITOL, AND THE HANDSHAKES BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

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        At this point, the writers believed that we had reached the consensus to call our era technocracy. Thomas Paine had been clear about what (should) govern democracy: “For as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries the law ought to be king…”, which echoed the premise of Locke’s The Two Treatises of Civil Government: “Whenever law ends, tyranny begins” (Paine, 1791; Locke, 1689). For technology to reach this stage, it must mean that somewhere on the way we have (unconsciously) allowed it to interfere with the law-making process. 

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        The nature of American politics provided mechanisms for tech companies to stretch their influence to Washington. But it was not all of a sudden that the CEOs of Silicon Valley became interested in making friends with D.C. politicians and lawmakers. According to journalists Olivia Solon and Sabrina Siddiqui, that turning point was the case of the United States v. Microsoft Corp., in which the company was accused of unlawful monopolization. The antitrust law case rings a bell to tech businesses that they need to “play the political game, or Washington will make [their] life difficult” (Solon & Siddiqui, 2018). 

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       With the lesson learned, tech giants started to funnel their money to get political advantages. These corporations have strategically utilized their money, with the most common methods being lobbying, political campaign donations, and revolving doors. While it is impossible to have a comprehensive view of the strategies or statistics on how the money was channeled to finance those activities, here, the writers did their best to use the available resources to paint an overview picture of this grey-ish field. Data from OpenScrets (reposted by Time and CNBC) suggests that over the past decade, the expenditures for lobbying of the Big 4 have increased significantly from 39.2 million USD in 2014 to 64.2 million USD as of last year (Feiner, 2023). Along with the rise of AI and the challenge of regulating this technology, experts predict that a splurge in lobby spending will likely occur in the following years (Henshall, 2024). 

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        It takes more than the green bills to fertilize the connection between tech companies and the government. That is where lobbyists step in, but the job is not open to everyone. As stated by former Representative Mick Mulvaney: “We had a hierarchy in my office in Congress. If you’re a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didn’t talk to you. If you’re a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you” (Li, 2021). Tech companies have the money, but they don’t know the way around in the Capitol chambers, and retired politicians have connections that can channel the dollars to arrive at the right desk. It is a win-win for both parties. A report suggests that the FAANG is working with 320 in-house and external lobbyists, most of them are former Capitol Hill staffers. With the number of 51% of congressional personnel who left their offices having the desire to increase their income, it is evident that the trend will continue to rise in the future (Chin-Rothmann, 2021). 

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IV. FINAL WORDS

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        As tech giants swiftly find their way to cast their veil of influence over many layers of the American political landscape, critics have raised concerns over threats of democracy erosion. Monopoly, in any society, is detrimental to democracy. It is because the essence of democracy lies in collective decision-making and equal participation. For every modern government, it means the delicate balance between allowing their citizens to exercise fundamental rights while having certain freedoms restricted for the sake of society, and very often when a group of people starts to get more exclusive power, that position is altered and turned into the struggles for interests.

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Author:

• Nguyen Hien Thao, International Politics and Diplomatic Studies intake 50, DAV.

• Nguyen Thu Tra, International Politics and Diplomatic Studies intake 48, DAV.

• Pham Quynh Huong, English Faculty, International Law Faculty, intake 49, DAV.

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References: 

1. Chin-Rothmann, C. (2021, November 4). Should Congress close the revolving door in the technology industry? Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/should-congress-close-the-revolving-door-in-the-technology-industry/ 

2. Feiner, L. (2023, January 23). Apple ramped up lobbying spending in 2022, outpacing tech peers. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/23/apple-ramped-up-lobbying-spending-in-2022-outpacing-tech-peers.html 

3. Fernandez, R. (2023, December 18). How Big Tech is becoming the Government. SOMO. https://www.somo.nl/how-big-tech-is-becoming-the-government/ 

4. Fondapol. (n.d.). Big tech dominance (1): the new financial tycoons. Www.fondapol.org. https://www.fondapol.org/en/study/big-tech-dominance-1-the-new-financial-tycoons/ 

5. Henshall, W. (2024, April 30). There’s an AI lobbying frenzy in Washington. big tech is dominating. TIME. https://time.com/6972134/ai-lobbying-tech-policy-surge/ 

6. Li, J. (2021). An Ethical Evaluation of Corporate Lobbying Practices: A case study on Facebook Inc’s lobbying strategies. Deep Blue (University of Michigan). https://doi.org/10.7302/1277 

7. Locke, J. L. (1689). Two treatises on civil government.

8. Moore, M. (2016). Tech giants and civic power. Centre for the Study of Media, Communication & Power, King’s College London. https://doi.org/10.18742/pub01-027 

9. Paine, T. (1791). Common sense.

10. Pew Research Center. (2024, April 14). Americans who mainly get their news on social media are less engaged, less knowledgeable. https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2020/07/30/americans-who-mainly-get-their-news-on-social-media-are-less-engaged-less-knowledgeable/ 

11. Solon, O., & Siddiqui, S. (2018, March 21). Forget Wall Street – Silicon Valley is the new political power in Washington. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/sep/03/silicon-valley-politics-lobbying-washington 

12. Statista. (2024, February 12). Global market share of leading search engines 2015-2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1381664/worldwide-all-devices-market-share-of-search-engines/ 

13. Wheeler, T. (2023, October 16). Big Tech won. Now what? Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/big-tech-won-now-what/ 

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