7. Conclusion
The US is home to 15 of the world’s 20 most valuable tech firms, but as The Economist suggested,217 Europe’s weaker representation in the Big Tech league may be one of its main advantages, as it allows it to take a more objective stance in regulation. Disinformation poses a threat to democracies on both sides of the Atlantic. For far too long digital intermediaries’ behaviour has displayed the traits of absentee ownership, a disengagement characteristic of monopolistic enterprises that operate far removed from distant communities around the world that have to bear the brunt of their externalities. That’s why it is incumbent upon the EU and the US as allies representing democratic values and possessing the technological expertise, to join forces and lead the debate. There is nothing inevitable about the current course.
217 The Economist (2019), ‘Why big tech should fear Europe’, 23 March 2019, https://www.economist.com/leaders/2019/03/23/why-big-tech-should-fear-europe (accessed 28 Mar. 2019).