Wired UK – September 2019

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force driving the tech giants to confront

these problems – an often public-spirited

and noble force, and the only thing to

have any impact. But we cannot spend

the next ten years doing the same.

First, telling the tech giants to sort out

the problems they’ve caused just makes

them more powerful, with enormous

latitude to both define the problem

and work out solutions. We have asked

them to become counter-radicalisation

specialists. Social cohesion experts.

Digital literacy trainers. Cybercrime

police. Guardians of open journalism.

In some cases, the arbiter of truth itself.

This simply isn’t what private

companies are set up to do. They lack

the accountability, democratic oversight

or public transparency to make morally

hazardous distinctions like defining fake

news. Especially when those distinctions

can transform the global news diet.

We need to remind ourselves that tech

companies are profit-maximising entities

with fiduciary duties to investors. They

have earnings calls. They need to return

dividends. They need to show capital

appreciation. The solutions they propose

are business decisions as much as moral

ones. In a clash of incentives, they are

always going to pick growth over safety,

and engagement over decency. It’s not

because they’re evil: they’re companies

like any other, trying to make money

within the law – because that is actually

what their legal responsibility is.

Reform through embarrassment is also

incredibly iniquitous to the countries and

communities that cannot embarrass the

tech giants. Facebook has been active in

fighting electoral interference in America,

Germany and the UK. But the story is very

different if you’re in Georgia or Kosovo.

Smaller markets, less widely spoken

languages – or just people who aren’t

journalists, politicians, or celebrities –

always lose out when the enforcement

of basic standards and rules boils down

to corporate reputation-management.

The rich, visible and powerful tend to be

protected in this arrangement.

Finally, moralising the tech giants is a

distraction from what actually has to be

done: reforming the moral architecture

outside them. We need a re-organisation

of the police so that they can act as easily

across borders as the online criminals

they are trying to catch. We need a surge

of librarians and teachers to teach people

how to sort out truth and lies online. The

UK’s Competition and Markets Authority

has to redefine the nature of monopoly

in the digital age. To respond to infor-

mation warfare, we need new multilateral

treaties, sanctions and a robust idea of

what a “just” war using information is.

Right now, we have none of these things.

When the activities of the tech giants

themselves need to be shaped, public

embarrassment must be replaced by clear

laws that protect everybody. Laws, for

instance, that clearly define platforms’

responsibilities during elections, or what

is legal to say or not say on social media.

Laws that force trans-

parency of political adver-

tising or how much money

each platform needs to

spend on moderation. The

EU and a series of countries,

including the UK, have

become more active here –

but there are still more legal

gaps than plans to fill them.

Refreshing our moral

order for the digital age

does not boil down to

corporate social respon-

sibility, or to shaming a

specific industry into doing

a specific thing. It’s down to

all the rest of us. We need to

stop trying to turn private companies

into something they’re not, and start

building a new moral, institutional and

legal order to express the values, rights

and standards that we hold, and extend

them into the digital realm. It’s not about

whether Mark Zuckerberg is good or bad,

vampire or human. It’s about getting

to a place where we don’t have to care. ILL

UST

RAT

ION

:^ M

ATT

HEW

GR

EEN

‘In a clash of

incentives, Big Tech

will always pick

growth over safety,

engagement

over decency’

“I am loving the

vertical take-off air

transport concept

from Lilium –

a thoughtful,

affordable solution

(backed by an

extremely capable

team) that could

easily lead to mass

appeal with a small

carbon footprint.

This is a product

that envisages

the future, in

the right way.”

Will Bedingfield

“Our business has

grown by over

13,000 per cent in

four years, which

means you have

to scale design

tools quickly.

Canva makes

translating and

templating a cinch

when you’re tight

on budget and

design resource.

It helps us build

a consistent

brand at scale.”

WIRED asks three

entrepreneurs about the

startups exciting them

EARLY ADOPTERS

Tania Boler

CEO, Elvie

Sara Gordon

Creative director,

Bloom & Wild

Vivian Chan

CEO, Sparrho

“I love what the

Maven Clinic

is doing to give

women and

families access to

health and social

services that

might otherwise be

out of reach. The

Maven app utilises

video chat to give

users prescription

services and real-

time appointments

with clinicians

and doctors.”

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