The late 19th century was a period known as “the Gilded Age” in America. As the railroads, mining industries and factories boomed, millions of workers were inspired to migrate from Europe, yet the wealth became concentrated among a small set of industrialists such as Andrew Carnegie, a steel magnate, and the oil baron John D Rockefeller. These men wielded massive power through business, political efforts and philanthropy.
Yet even Mr. Carnegie, whose ruthlessness earned him a reputation as a “robber baron”, would have been amazed by the power the heads of technology firms wield today, according to the Carnegie biographer David Nasaw. “Carnegie could never have imagined the kind of power Zuckerberg has,” said Nasaw, a history professor at City University of New York. “Politics today is less relevant than it has ever been in our entire history. These CEOs are more powerful than they’ve ever been. The driving force of social change today is no longer government at all.”
Tech CEOs have spent 2016 wading into politics when it suits their own ends, and even going head—to—head with the US government. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO, opened the firm’s annual developer conference by calling out the anti-immigration stance of Republican presidential front runner Donald Trump.
‘Fearful voices’“I hear fearful voices calling for building walls and distancing people they label as ‘others’,” he said. “I hear them calling for blocking free expression, for slowing immigration, for reducing trade, and in some cases, even for cutting access to the Internet. Instead of building walls, we can help people build bridges,” Mr. Zuckerberg told the audience.
This was markedly political language for the usually private CEO, who has quietly supported lobbying efforts for a more liberal approach to immigration . And he’s doing more than just politicised product launches: in December, he set aside 99% of his fortune — a now untaxable $45 billion — to be spent “to advance human potential”, as the announcement claimed. That potential is whatever fits with Mr. Zuckerberg’s worldview.
Facebook employees have asked him whether they should actively work to defeat Mr. Trump, according to leaked documents given to the tech site Gizmodo on Friday. More than 1.04 billion people use Facebook every day, and for many it has become their most important news source.
When the FBI won a federal court order saying Apple must help the agency break into an iPhone, chief executive Tim Cook issued a public statement refusing to comply. Despite the sensitivity of the probe into the San Bernardino terrorist attack, Mr. Cook tried to reassure the public that he was not talking about toppling democracy. “We are challenging the FBI’s demands with the deepest respect for American democracy,” the statement began. “This demand would undermine the very freedoms and liberty our government is meant to protect.”
Protection of democracyDo Apple — the world’s most valuable company by market capitalisation — and Tim Cook know how to protect democracy better than the American government does? Public sentiment has been on Apple’s side. The night Cook issued that statement, a small crowd assembled outside San Francisco’s Apple store to express support, and at the firm’s annual shareholder meeting, he received a standing ovation. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2016
