In just a few years, tech platforms have transformed our economies and societies while growing to become some of the largest companies in the world. Existing regulatory regimes have not prevented accelerated market consolidation in the sector, with some pointing to this as a source of negative impact from privacy violations to large-scale, cross-border election tampering. The motion, Big tech cannot be trusted to self-regulate, represents this fundamental tension. It seeks to understand whether new regulatory oversight is now needed in order to change the tech landscape for good, or whether these companies can be relied upon to regulate themselves. The debate is conducted in collaboration with the Qatar Foundation.
Host for the New York Times:
Meredith Kopit Levien, Chief Operating Officer, The New York Times Company
Moderator for the debate:
Andrew Ross Sorkin, Editor-at-Large, DealBook
Debaters arguing FOR the motion (Big tech cannot be trusted to self regulate):
Sharan Burrow, General Secretary, International Trade Union Confederation
Tristan Harris, Co-Founder and President, Center for Humane Technology
Lisa Witter, Co-Founder and Executive Chairperson, Apolitical
Debaters arguing AGAINST the motion (Big tech can be trusted to self regulate):
Andrew McAfee, Co-Director and Co-Founder, MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy
Rebecca Masisak, Chief Executive Officer, TechSoup
Malcolm Frank, President, Digital Business, Cognizant
Jury members:
Dr. Mahmoud Barraj, Outreach Program Specialist, Qatar Debate
Helen E. Clark, Prime Minister of New Zealand, (1999-2008)
Shamina Singh, President, Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth & Executive Vice President, Sustainability, Mastercard
