The Whole Hog End of Year Special: The Neck of Big Tech

It seems hard to believe that when the internet first started becoming part of our daily lives 20 years ago, that it would turn into a sinister, gargantuan beast, far evolved beyond the realm of Facebook poking and cat videos. Fast forward to 2024, and the global digital panopticon is in full effect.

In his 2023 book Technofeudalism – What Killed Capitalism, former Greek finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, writes that we now live in a society where a small handful of tech giants have control of nearly everything, in a similar way to how feudal lords controlled land and the lives of people in the middle ages. It’s a convincing argument. We rely on big tech companies for most aspects of our day-to-day lives, whether it’s work, communication, transport, healthcare, entertainment or shopping.

Yanis Varoufakis by Olaf Kosinsky.

What’s so bad about that? You, for one, might like the fact that, in the great year of 2024, you can get a Big Mac delivered to your door at any hour of the day, order a taxi at a second’s notice, or watch the latest Premier League highlights sitting on the jacks of the 4pm train from Heuston to Cork Kent.

Among other consequences, each like, share and purchase, tacitly grants greater control to tech giants. Tech giants like Amazon, who have been the subject of numerous reports, criticisms and investigations over the working environments of their warehouses across the world - including allegations of using excessive surveillance to quell attempts to form unions and pressure workers into states of exhaustion and injury.

Tech giants like Meta, whose platforms, as discovered after a two-year Guardian investigation, are used by criminals for child sex trafficking. Mark Zuckerberg’s company was sued by New Mexico’s Attorney General last December for enabling “adults to find, message and groom minors.” Documents from a landmark US Senate hearing at the beginning of this year showed that 100,000 children are sexually harassed across Meta’s platforms. That figure is daily, by the way.

Their unprecedented access to our personal data has also allowed big tech to recycle our information to influence our behaviour and prey on our emotions. 2024 has seen even more political instability caused by the misinformation and outrage that social media not only facilitates, but rewards through its algorithms.

This has been particularly prevalent since Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, now X. The billionaire’s overhaul of the site, on the pretext of promoting ‘free speech’, has seen the platform devolve into an unregulated cesspit of bots, porn, racism and lies – sometimes, all at once.

Musk has also used the platform as his very own megaphone for Trump’s re-election, helping the modern day Nero claw his way back into the White House. It’s an undermining of democracy that comes with its own litany of already much-discussed issues.

According to Bloomberg, tech companies are set to spend $200 billion chasing artificial intelligence this year. While the true implications of fast-improving AI on our lives are yet to be seen, it’s easy to be pessimistic, considering big tech’s track record of putting profits before our collective wellbeing. What we do know is that – from deepfake images to believably human-like music – it’s becoming harder and harder to differentiate the authentic from the synthetic. Watch out!

As Christmas and New Year hurtle ever closer – capping off another phenomenal 12 months of Irish music, sport, film, literature and more  – we're thrilled to present the brand new Hot Press Annual!

Inside, you'll find captivating conversations with Fontaines D.C., KNEECAP, Jazzy, LYRA, The Mary Wallopers, Gurriers, Daniel Wiffen, Irish Artists For Palestine and more – all taking us through their highlights of the year. Plus, the HP critics deliver their verdict on 2024 – including all the top albums, tracks, movies, books, quotes, photos and events...