Is Facebook Too Powerful?

PHOTO: Unsplash

This is one of the questions that are raised in a new book ViSmedia researcher Nicholas Diakopoulos has contributed to.

Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft have gained unprecedented digital monopoly. This has important implications, which are explored in the book Digital Dominance: The Power of Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple.

RESEARCHER: Nicholas Diakopoulos researches computational and data journalism with emphasis on algorithmic accountability and social computing in the news. (PHOTO: Siri Flatlandsmo)

Nicholas Diakopoulos, assistant professor at Northwestern University and ViSmedia researcher, has co-written a chapter in the book, called  "13.I Vote For—How Search Informs Our Choice of Candidate," written alongside Daniel Trielli, Jennifer Stark, and Sean Mussenden.

In this volume, the editors Martin Moore and Damian Tambini examine the economic, political, and social impacts of the digital dominance of technologies platforms impacts of these powerful institutions.

Frank Pasquale, author of The Black Box Society, believes Digital Dominance: The Power of Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple is essential to understand the role of these powerful companies:

"Digital Dominance is a critically important volume to guide citizens and policymakers as governments around the world wake up to the power of technology giants. Convening diverse and authoritative voices in social science and law, this book presents cutting edge research that is essential to understanding the role of Google, Facebook, Apple, and Amazon in our economy and politics. This work both addresses immediate controversies and promises to be of lasting relevance to those concerned about the effect of technology on society - and how societies might better channel technological development to serve, rather than dominate, humanity."

Digital Dominance is the first interdisciplinary volume on this topic, contributing to a conversation that is critical to maintaining the health of democracies across the world.