FREEDOM ON THE NET 2021 The Global Drive to Control Big Tech The Global Drive to Control Big Tech by Adrian Shahbaz and Allie Funk I n the high-stakes battle between states and technology companies, the rights of internet users have become the main casualties. A growing number of governments are asserting their authority over tech firms, often forcing the businesses to comply with online censorship and surveillance. These developments have contributed to an unprecedented assault on free expression online, causing global internet freedom to decline for an 11th consecutive year. Global norms have shifted dramatically toward greater government intervention in the digital sphere. Of the 70 states covered by this report, a total of 48 pursued legal or administrative action against technology companies. While some moves reflected legitimate attempts to mitigate online harms, rein in misuse of data, or end manipulative market practices, many new laws imposed excessively broad censorship and data-collection requirements on the private sector. Users’ online activities are now more pervasively moderated and monitored by companies through processes that lack the safeguards featured in democratic governance, such as transparency, judicial oversight, and public accountability. The drive toward national regulation has emerged partly due to a failure to address online harms through self-regulation. The United States played a leading role in shaping early internet norms around free speech and free markets, but its laissezfaire approach to the tech industry created opportunities for authoritarian manipulation, data exploitation, and widespread malfeasance. In the absence of a shared global vision for a free and open internet, governments are adopting their own approaches to policing the digital sphere. Policymakers in many countries have cited a vague need to retake control of the internet from foreign powers, multinational corporations, and in some cases, civil society. This shift in power from companies to states has come amid a record-breaking crackdown on freedom of expression online. In 56 countries, officials arrested or convicted people for their online speech. Governments suspended internet access in at least 20 countries, and 21 states blocked access to social media platforms, most often during times of political turmoil 2 @freedomonthenet such as protests and elections. As digital repression intensifies and expands to more countries, users understandably lack confidence that government initiatives to regulate the internet will lead to greater protection of their rights. Enlisting the private sector in state abuses The recent burst of regulatory action can be sorted into three categories pertaining to online content, personal data, and market behavior. Many of the new measures in each category could threaten the interests of users. More governments have introduced problematic rules on removing users’ speech from internet platforms. Some of the laws are designed to suppress content that is critical of the government, rather than protecting users from harmful material. Others water down due process standards by eliminating the need for a court order or mandating the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for content removal, both of which can result in significant collateral damage for political, social, and religious expression. Only in a few cases do such laws require companies to undertake meaningful transparency reporting and provide content producers with an avenue for appeal. Users are increasingly left on their own to contend with companies’ murky moderation systems and protect their rights online. A similar pattern is apparent on matters of data management. A growing number of laws facilitate government surveillance by undermining encryption and mandating that platforms store user data on servers based within the country. These localization requirements leave data especially vulnerable in settings with weak rule-oflaw standards, and make it more difficult for companies to offer transnational services with strong cybersecurity features. Even laws that enshrine the rights of users to control their data often contain vague exemptions for national security, while others impose onerous licensing requirements on both local and foreign companies. #FreedomOnTheNet