Don’t Be Evil

Today Google and Facebook receive 90% of the world’s news ad-spending. Amazon takes half of all ecommerce in the US. Google and Apple operating systems run on all but 1% of cell phones globally. And 80% of corporate wealth is now held by 10% of companies – not the GEs and Toyotas of this world, but the digital titans. How did we get here? How did the tech industry get to dominate our world so completely? How did once-idealistic and innovative companies come to manipulate elections, violate our privacy, and pose a threat to the fabric of our democracy? In Don’t Be Evil, FT columnist Rana Foroohar documents how Big Tech lost its soul – and became the new Wall Street. Through her skilled reporting and unparalleled access – won through nearly 30 years covering business and technology – she shows the true extent to which the ‘Faang’s (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google) crush or absorb any potential competitors, hijack our personal data and offshore their exorbitant profits. Yet she also lays out a plan for how we can resist, creating a framework that fosters innovation while also protecting us from the dark side of digital technology.