Summary:
- "Big Tech as the New Big Tobacco" explores the parallels between the tech industry and the tobacco industry, examining their impact on society and the potential negative consequences.
- The book highlights the unchecked power and influence of Big Tech companies, drawing comparisons to the tactics used by tobacco companies in the past to manipulate public opinion and evade regulations.
- It delves into the addictive nature of technology and the tactics employed by tech companies to keep users engaged and glued to their screens, much like how the tobacco industry worked to keep people hooked on cigarettes.
- The author argues that just as tobacco companies faced scrutiny and regulation for their harmful practices, Big Tech companies should also be held accountable for their impact on privacy, democracy, mental health, and society as a whole.
Key Learnings:
- The similarities between the tech industry and the tobacco industry reveal the potential dangers and negative consequences of unregulated and unchecked power.
- The book sheds light on the addictive nature of technology and the tactics employed by tech companies
✏️ Highlights
Cynthia Lummis and Democrat Ed Markey compared Facebook and Big Tech to Big Tobacco. Markey described Instagram as “that first childhood cigarette, meant to get teens hooked early.”
Buck compared big tech to big tobacco, saying they were “harming our kids for profit.”
Researchers from Cornell noted that Big Tech and Big Tobacco’s funding of scientific research and development were similar in both industries: “Pump vast sums of money” into researching the problems they were creating.
Both Big Tech and Big Tobacco wanted to influence research to ensure their industries sustained support and were seen as socially responsible.
The two think tanks criticized plans to force retailers to sell cigarettes in unbranded cartons, which was a measure supported by cancer charities and opposed by Big Tobacco.
In 2019, it was reported that Tobacco companies had contributed to at least 106 think tanks in two dozen countries. The think tanks they contributed to were found to oppose plain cigarette packaging,
Who Big Tech gives to and how much they contributed is murky, as think tanks and nonprofits aren’t required to disclose their funding.
