THE strange ways in which tech giants such as WhatsApp and Twitter are digging their own graves with some recent decisions suggest that they are suffering from “Technology Intoxication”, which normally affects individuals. When large corporations act under the mistaken impression that they are so powerful that they can challenge society, it is similar to committing hara-kiri. Yesterday it was WhatsApp, today it is Twitter, and tomorrow it could be Google or Apple.
After WhatsApp announced its new privacy policy disregarding countries like India, which are their strong markets, it saw an exodus of customers. According to a recent survey, nearly 28 percent of Whats App users have already switched over to other apps and 44 percent intend to do so within a month, leaving only 28 percent loyal to the FaceBook-owned service.
The beneficiaries of this exodus were Telegram and Signal. India hopes that a native Indian application such as “Arattai”, promoted by Sridhar Vembu of the Zoho group, will also carve a niche for itself in the personal messaging world.
A similar situation seems to be developing in the social media world where Twitter is set to stumble and let the competition move in. Twitter has been a great tech success and has many achievements to its credit. But when it removed the account of former US president Donald Trump, it exhibited its technology intoxicated mindset and a desire to take on the role of a “content regulator”. It appears that Twitter is realising that there is political power in managing news media.
Denne historien er fra February 22, 2021 -utgaven av India Legal.
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Denne historien er fra February 22, 2021 -utgaven av India Legal.
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