{{ subpage.title }}

Why Big Tech Companies Are Like “Digital Nation States” | GZERO World

Why Big Tech companies are like “digital nation states”

No government today has the toolbox to tinker with Big Tech – that's why it's time to start thinking of the biggest tech companies as bona fide "digital nation states" with their own foreign relations, Ian Bremmer explains on GZERO World. Never has a small group of companies held such an expansive influence over humanity. And in this vast new digital territory, governments have little idea what to do.

Watch this episode of GZERO World with Ian Bremmer: Big Tech: Global sovereignty, unintended consequences

Nick Thompson on China's Tech U-turn | GZERO World

Nicholas Thompson on China's tech U-turn

Six months ago, China's tech giants were champions of the state, working with the government to conquer US Big Tech. But then Xi Jinping started cracking down, and a trillion dollars in their market value is gone. Huh? For Nicholas Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic and former editor-in-chief of WIRED, it makes sense for Xi to go after cryptocurrencies to ensure they don't replace the yuan. But going after national tech champions, he says, could be fool's errand because it's inevitable they'll someday become more powerful than the state itself.

Watch this episode of GZERO World with Ian Bremmer: Big Tech: Global sovereignty, unintended consequences

Have Governments Lost Control of the Digital World? | GZERO World

Have governments lost control of the digital world?

Sort of, but governments haven't lost all control yet. On the one hand, The Atlantic CEO Nicholas Thompson says that governments can still push tech companies for transparency in their algorithms, while Microsoft has partnered with the US government to together fight hackers "so the company is seen as a champion for freedom and democracy." On the other, over time Thompson expects tech firms in the US and China to gradually become more powerful as the state becomes less powerful toward them. Watch his interview with Ian Bremmer on the latest episode of GZERO World.

Watch this episode of GZERO World with Ian Bremmer: Big Tech: Global sovereignty, unintended consequences

Nick Thompson: Facebook Realized Too Late It Couldn’t Control Its Own Algorithms | GZERO World

Nick Thompson: Facebook realized too late it couldn’t control its own algorithms

Three years ago, Facebook changed its algorithms to mitigate online rage and misinformation. But it only made Facebook worse by boosting toxic engagement, says Nick Thompson, The Atlantic CEO & former WIRED editor-in-chief. Thompson believes Facebook simply got in over its head, rather than becoming intentionally "evil" like, say, Big Tobacco with cigarettes. "I think they just created something they couldn't control. And I think they didn't grasp what was happening until too late." Watch his interview with Ian Bremmer on the latest episode of GZERO World.

LinkedIn out of China | GZERO World

LinkedIn right to shut down in China, says journalist Nick Thompson

The Atlantic CEO Nick Thompson believes in tech firms doing business in China because connecting with people there is a huge social good for the world. But in demanding LinkedIn de-platform certain people, he says, the Chinese government crossed a line, and "you can't justify that."

Watch Ian Bremmer's interview with Nicholas Thompson in an upcoming episode of GZERO World, airing on US public television.

Twitter Bans QAnon; CRISPR Gene Tech| Tech In :60 | GZERO Media

Twitter bans QAnon; CRISPR gene tech

Nicholas Thompson, Editor-in-chief of WIRED, provides his perspective on technology news:

Twitter has said it will knockout QAnon. How will that work out?

QAnon is a strange, mysterious, far-right conspiracy theory. Twitter removing it will actually make a difference. It's very easy to say, "oh, we'll just migrate to Facebook or elsewhere," and that is partly true, but Twitter is a central node in how the conspiracy theory is spread. Remove it, and it will spread more slowly.

Read moreShow less
Twitter Hack Mystery; Does Two-Factor Authentication Make You Safe? | Tech In :60 | GZERO Media

Twitter hack mystery; does two-factor authentication make you safe?

Nicholas Thompson, editor-in-chief of WIRED, helps us make sense of today's stories in technology:

Whoa Twitter! What happened this week?

Well, on Wednesday, a whole bunch of prominent Twitter accounts, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Apple, started tweeting out a Bitcoin scam. The same one. It said, "send money to this address and we'll send you back twice as much." Clearly a fraud. But what was interesting about it is that it wasn't like one account that had been compromised. A whole bunch of accounts have been compromised. Meaning most likely someone got access to a control panel at Twitter. The big mystery is how they got access to it? And why, if they had so much power, all they did was run a stupid Bitcoin scam?

Read moreShow less
Preventing a DDoS Attack; Brick and Mortars No More | Tech In :60 | GZERO Media

Preventing a DDoS attack; brick and mortars no more

Nicholas Thompson, editor-in-chief of WIRED, discusses technology industry news today:

What is a DDoS attack and how can they be prevented?

That's a digital denial of service attack. Somebody uses malware to infect a bunch of computers or Internet of Things devices and sends lots of traffic at a server trying to knock the server offline. What can you do if you own the server? Buy more space, become part of a large operation like AWS that can offer you expanded space during the time of an attack, and build good filtering and blocking software.

Read moreShow less

Subscribe to our free newsletter, GZERO Daily

Latest