[How About This Book] Big Tech Above the White House... The Changing Power Dynamics

Big Tech's Influence Surpasses Boundaries
SpaceX's Power Now Exceeds NASA
Businessman Musk's Diplomatic Involvement Sparks Tensions
Heavy Reliance on Private Sector in Space and Defense
"Measures Needed to Restrain Unelected Power"

Elon Musk (SpaceX), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Bill Gates (Microsoft), Sergey Brin and Larry Page (Google).

They are all American billionaires with influence strong enough to rival nations. The reason they are threatening is not simply because they are wealthy. They can replace roles traditionally performed by governments.

[How About This Book] Big Tech Above the White House... The Changing Power Dynamics

Unlike other billionaires such as Bernard Arnault, chairman of Louis Vuitton Mo?t Hennessy (LVMH), who topped the list of the world's richest, 'investment genius' Warren Buffett, or L'Or?al heiress Fran?oise Bettencourt Meyers, these individuals pursue 'transhumanism.' Transhumanism is a philosophy aiming to transcend human limitations through science and technology, targeting goals such as human migration to Mars, immortality, and memory transplantation.

The French economic journalist author points out that these multinational corporations dominate key sectors such as space, healthcare, defense, diplomacy, and education, warning that the world faces an unprecedented situation in the history of democracy. The author criticizes, "These emerging tycoons are usurping some of the government's inherent powers," and "they perform the unique roles that governments traditionally undertake as sovereign entities."

The author analyzes that the leadership of the U.S. space industry has already shifted to Elon Musk's SpaceX. During the Cold War, the U.S. fiercely competed with Russia in space, but lost momentum after the 1986 Challenger disaster. The accident, which exploded one minute after launch, killed seven astronauts and shocked American society deeply. While the government took a passive stance afterward, Musk pushed forward private space ventures through SpaceX, which now owns one-third (3,660) of low Earth orbit satellites.

The influence of big tech (large information technology companies) is also growing in the defense sector. During the Ukraine war, Starlink provided satellite internet to Ukraine, supporting digital warfare such as drone attacks, and Microsoft quickly relayed information about Russian cyberattacks to the White House, preventing damage. Google played a crucial role in GPS, while YouTube and Facebook were used in psychological warfare.

The problem is that these technologies have a high potential to cause social unrest. According to Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, Facebook handed user information to public opinion agencies and cooperated in sending targeted messages to induce support for specific candidates.

The spread of fake information is also a serious issue. During the 2020 U.S. presidential election, posts raising doubts about election fraud accounted for 10% of political content views on Facebook, and Trump used this as a tool for incitement, leading to the January 2021 Capitol riot. Facebook could have sanctioned such false information but instead faced criticism for neglecting or even amplifying divisive content to focus on advertising revenue.

Although big tech's influence is growing daily, controlling it is not easy. In fact, the U.S. Department of Defense once worried that Musk might cut off communication support on the Ukrainian battlefield. In 2022, Musk posted a peace mediation proposal for Ukraine on Twitter without consulting the president or diplomatic authorities, causing friction with the White House. Harvard historian Jill Lepore criticized Musk, saying, "He considers himself above the president."

Musk showed a conciliatory attitude toward the Chinese government by proposing to make Taiwan like Hong Kong, which is interpreted as a strategy to gain support from the Chinese government since Tesla's factory in Shanghai is key to entering the Asian market.

The author cites China as an example of checking big tech beyond state control. Ant Group, led by Jack Ma, is a representative Chinese fintech company providing services encompassing Apple Pay (offline payments), PayPal (online payments), Mastercard (credit card payments), Venmo (transfers), JP Morgan (loans), and iShares (investments). It grew into a platform essential to one billion Chinese users, but the Chinese government saw it as a threat to state power. Ultimately, the government restrained Ant Group, and after Jack Ma suddenly disappeared from public view in October 2020, Ant Group was forcibly split into six parts. The author mentions the possibility that Ma was subjected to Chinese-style 'white torture,' psychological pressure while detained in hotels, adding that such a thing would be impossible in a typical rule-of-law country.

Additionally, the author introduces Facebook's failed 'Libra' project as a more desirable case. Libra was a cryptocurrency Facebook promoted in 2019, aiming to become a global payment method, but central bank governors worldwide strongly opposed it, fearing it could threaten monetary sovereignty. Eventually, Facebook abandoned the project. At the time, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said, "It is unacceptable for multinational corporations to have monetary power like sovereign governments of democratic countries," and pointed out, "Governments are accountable to their people, but corporations are not."

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt said, "We know where you are, where you have been, and what you are thinking. By analyzing your messages and location information and using artificial intelligence (AI), we can even predict where you will go next." This raises growing concerns that individuals' daily lives could fall under the control of private companies. The author warns, "Tech billionaires do not need to hold elections or stage coups to gain power," and "they already hold the necessary power in their hands."

So, what should individuals do? The author emphasizes, "To reclaim freedom against technological violence, we must start with small actions to find alternatives to the whirlpool of short-form content."