Tim Van Diepenbeek

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Recently the CEO’s of the big tech companies (Apple, Facebook, Amazon, and Google) had to appear for congress. They all faced slightly different questions, but the main overarching question was if the companies were too powerful. Facebook’s CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg had to answer some questions regarding the 2020 elections.

With the elections being less than one month away, companies like Facebook, Google, and Twitter are under a loop. This is not so weird as Facebook recently deleted pro-Trump campaign posts, in the meantime Twitter is labeling Donald Trump’s tweets about the elections as misleading.
Twitter and Facebook allow politicians to lie and spread possible misinformation on their platforms. According to Zuckerberg, they allow this as Facebook should not be the arbiter of the truth. However, by making judgments about the veracity of information shared on their platform, they are arbiters of the truth. Facebook and Twitter have policies that prevent users from sharing misleading information, this also includes voter suppression efforts. With these policies, they are deciding what is true and what is not.

The important question behind these actions is, are tech companies like Facebook, Google, and Twitter able to rig the 2020 elections, and if so, will they? More evidence, about how these companies influence the political theater is coming available. A former Google programmer told the press about Google’s political bias. He claimed that Google programmed its algorithms to scale down the results for Republicans and other right-leaning media. Apart from this reveal, Google executives got caught on camera discussing how they would influence the 2016 elections.

An expert in the field stated that Facebook, Twitter, and Google are more powerful than he has ever seen in behavioral sciences. He thinks, that with data manipulation and search engine tweaking 15 million votes can be shifted towards the Democratic party.

We will probably never know the truth, but the fact that these companies might influence our behavior and opinions is a scary thought

Gordon, D., 2020. Is Big Tech Readying To Rig The 2020 Election? – The Post Millennial. [online] The Post Millennial. Available at: [Accessed 9 October 2020].

Ivanova, I., 2020. Congress Set To Grill Big Tech Ceos — Here’s What To Expect. [online] Cbsnews.com. Available at: [Accessed 10 October 2020].

O’sullivan, D., 2020. Big Tech’s Head-Spinning Rules For The 2020 Election. [online] CNN. Available at: [Accessed 10 October 2020].

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Over the past few years, smart assistants like Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri and Google Home gained popularity. Many customers are falling for all the convenient features that are offered by these machines. Nowadays many people use it for basic features, like setting an alarm, playing some music, asking for live traffic information, or getting a news update when they get ready in the morning.

But the possibilities that these assistants have to offer, in combination with smart-home devices are endless. Imagine inviting friends over for dinner, but due to a traffic jam you are a little late yourself. Your smart home assistant can recognize your friends, opens the door for them, play some music from their favorite Spotify list and even prepare them a caramel flavored coffee with some extra milk. This might sound very futuristic, but it is possible.

However, with the rising popularity of smart home assistants, many people are worried about their privacy. Companies like Amazon collect the data that you share with Alexa as you talk to her. Following Amazon they only listen and store you date once you triggered Alexa by addressing her. It is also possible to delete your recordings. However, not everybody trusts the tech giant and there are examples in which Alexa failed to cover her ears and even shared recordings with others.

It is understandable that many people are concerned about their privacy and therefore refuse to let Alexa in their homes. However, the phone that everybody is carrying with them nowadays is not the most reliable machine either. Phones have far more sensors than speakers like GPS and accelerometers that can reveal the movements of your phone. Furthermore, spy agencies apparently have the possibility to activate the microphone whenever they want.

Is it fair that we are so concerned about smart home assistants like Alexa?. Of course violating privacy rights is wrong, but are we blaming the right devices here? I am probably not the only one who feels that Siri is constantly listening to me.

Rozita, D., 2020. The Dark Side Of Alexa, Siri And Other Personal Digital Assistants. [online] The Conversation. Available at: [Accessed 9 October 2020].

The Economist. 2020. How Creepy Is Your Smart Speaker?. [online] Available at: [Accessed 8 October 2020].

Does Alexa know?

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