Zeroing In on Big Tech – Anti-Competitive Behaviour on the Global Agenda

Below is an excerpt from ISS ESG’s thought leadership paper “Zeroing in on Big Tech – Anti-competitive Behaviour on the Global Agenda.” The full paper is available for download from the Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) online library.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Big Tech companies have dominated conversations about antitrust concerns in recent years, culminating in a number of investigations and governmental lawsuits across the globe.
• Big Tech’s market dominance and the lack of established alternatives have played key roles in these companies’ ability to side-step international norms concerning human and stakeholder rights, as well as labour rights.
• Regulators around the globe are set to implement, or have recently implemented, new regulations targeting concerning practices by dominant digital platforms. Due to the increasing scrutiny of competition authorities, company non-compliance with antitrust laws opens them up not just to hefty financial penalties, but also to potentially drastic measures such as structural separations or business restructures.
• The tech firms’ increasing power and their impact on society, politics, and everyday life suggest that they have ethical responsibilities that extend beyond simple legal complyiance, in particular when regulatory frameworks have been slow to catch up.
• Google occupies a unique role as a global digital gatekeeper for the internet and is currently the company that is most exposed to antitrust risks.