Analysis

Can Technology Be Stopped?


Listen Later

Can the Big Four - Amazon, Google, Facebook and Apple - be reined in and forced to play by the rules society sets, rather than imposing their own standards on society? It seems like news breaks every few weeks that reveal how the technology on which we increasingly depend - smartphones, search engines, social media - is not as passive as many of us thought. Big data, fake news, extremism, Russian trolls: with little or no regulatory supervision, the big tech companies are changing the world and disrupting our lives. Yet governments seem to have little power to respond. The tech giants look too big, too international and too hard to pin down.

So is it time to disrupt the disrupters? Journalist and writer Jamie Bartlett asks how we can regulate big tech. He meets the regulators who are daring to reclaim power, and assesses the challenges involved in imposing rules on an industry which is deeply complicated, ever changing and supranational. Do governments have the resources to reassert sovereignty over something which has become so embedded in our culture? And how would society change if they did?

Producer: Gemma Newby.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

AnalysisBy BBC Radio 4

  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6

4.6

195 ratings


More shows like Analysis

View all
Global News Podcast by BBC World Service

Global News Podcast

7,639 Listeners

From Our Own Correspondent by BBC Radio 4

From Our Own Correspondent

375 Listeners

More or Less by BBC Radio 4

More or Less

876 Listeners

Newshour by BBC World Service

Newshour

1,046 Listeners

The Reith Lectures by BBC Radio 4

The Reith Lectures

156 Listeners

In Our Time by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time

5,520 Listeners

The Documentary Podcast by BBC World Service

The Documentary Podcast

1,799 Listeners

In Our Time: History by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: History

1,878 Listeners

6 Minute English by BBC Radio

6 Minute English

1,763 Listeners

Learning English Conversations by BBC Radio

Learning English Conversations

1,049 Listeners

Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4 by BBC Radio 4

Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4

2,110 Listeners

The Infinite Monkey Cage by BBC Radio 4

The Infinite Monkey Cage

1,920 Listeners

Profile by BBC Radio 4

Profile

108 Listeners

The Media Show by BBC Radio 4

The Media Show

32 Listeners

BBC Inside Science by BBC Radio 4

BBC Inside Science

407 Listeners

Moral Maze by BBC Radio 4

Moral Maze

61 Listeners

The Inquiry by BBC World Service

The Inquiry

731 Listeners

Start the Week by BBC Radio 4

Start the Week

164 Listeners

Any Questions? and Any Answers? by BBC Radio 4

Any Questions? and Any Answers?

43 Listeners

The Politics Show by The New Statesman

The Politics Show

140 Listeners

The Briefing Room by BBC Radio 4

The Briefing Room

58 Listeners

You're Dead to Me by BBC Radio 4

You're Dead to Me

3,177 Listeners

The Bomb by BBC World Service

The Bomb

1,002 Listeners

Westminster Insider by POLITICO

Westminster Insider

40 Listeners

Radical by BBC Radio 4

Radical

45 Listeners