Google, Facebook, Amazon - The rise of the mega-corporations | DW Documentary

Mega-corporations like Amazon and Facebook are becoming more powerful. And their growth shows no signs of slowing down. They are in the public eye -- but are they also above the law?

The pandemic has only made the "big four” -- Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook -- more influential. Our data has become big business. But are these corporations out of control?

Experts have long watched as corporations like Apple and Amazon flout antitrust laws, while receiving special treatment: When it comes to wages, taxes and laws, these corporations seem to rewrite the rules as they go. Many critics consider Facebook and Google’s systematic data exploitation a violation of our core democratic principals. Moreover, the line between the state and mega-corporations is growing even foggier. Some states believe there is simply no way around these giants. Corporate power seems like it is here to stay.

Market driven surveillance undermines our sovereignty and thus the very foundation of Western democracies. There is a storm brewing both in the U.S. and Europe. But the corporations are ready for it. Will they continue on this dangerous trajectory, or is there some chance we can still rein them in?

#documentary #dwdocumentary #data
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[RandallLeighton]

There's something very ironic about watching this on YouTube.

[DrewRueDoo]

DW Documentary seriously NEVER disappoints. You guys seriously make the best documentaries.

[panashifzco]

So glad that documents like these exists, cause matters like these must be talked and it is very important to create awareness among people. Great work DW.

[Skylark_Jones]

Facebook would rather "donate" money to a small town than pay income or wealth tax: the amounts they give to the town are voluntary and far smaller than what a tax bill would demand.

[hemant]

"When the product is free, you are the product".

[josegabrielsilva]

Rutger Bregman courage to call rich people out and telling them to stop pretending they cared about equality and fairness while avoiding paying taxes deserves a standing ovation. DW congrats for another great documentary. You always deliver 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[kaiawang]

As someone who has lived in Silicon Valley for a decade, I saw crumbled local communities and gentrification as a result of the expansion of big techs. Thank you so much for telling the true story with this revealing documentary.

[ricojaytanilon]

This kind of documentaries deserves a big award on big screens especially in this kind of industry. I find it very informative and I think this is something that people should watch for them to be able to make a good change for what they believed in to have a positive impact in their respective community. God Bless and more power DW!

[mhopkins]

This is NOT a new problem in "silicon valley". I remember hearing stories of workers sleeping on overnight city buses because they couldn't afford rent 15+ years ago

[cliftonmadden]

It is really short sighted for a company like Amazon to pay workers low wages. Henry Ford paid the highest wages in the auto industry and made each of him workers customers, because they could afford to buy his cars.

[no-oneinparticular]

Just imagine, if everybody stopped using Facebook etc. It would bring them down quickly. Start using just text and calls only. Keep your life private, where it should be. How many people would do it???

[arturperrellaglukhovskyy]

I will repeat on every platform I watch your content: thank you for being such a high quality state media.

This morning I clicked on your "Documentary" playlist and was shocked by the amount of topics and angles you cover. I knew you had many, but not so many!

I hope you maintain your solid position worldwide. We need high quality food for our mind.

[sachinrv]

The government of every country allows certain big companies to grow bigger and bigger to such a point that these companies start shaping and dictating government policies to their own advantage. They say they pay millions of amount of taxes, virtually all the taxes are already factored in their selling price. Thanks DW for this master piece :)

[chilesauce]

Lobbying should be curtailed, money to politicians from business should be disallowed.

[whoisthispianist]

I don’t understand why these companies were allowed to buy so many other companies - it’s pretty obvious that they’d end up being monopolies. Why aren’t there rules in place to stop so many acquisitions?

[artmusic]

Enjoy so much, DW 💛💙and the "Key Moments" in the show notes is a perfect index to your expansive journalism.

[om-njhw]

If everything is catered to the rich, where are all the average workers supposed to live? We need them more than big tech.. who's going to take you to the hospital, put your fire out, fix your house teach your kids etc

[Larkinchance]

Donating to the town's infrastructure becomes a 100% tax deduction, ... so it didn't cost the corporate giant anything.

[FrancoisOlignyLemieux]

DW makes good documentaries. Two thumbs up. Keep it up

[dominickjvlogs]

I lost my job in SF during the shut down while clearly the wealthy class went on partying and making record profits. Some people seemed to think they were "chosen ones" who "deserved" the ability to keep making money during the shutdown by being important and other people were just lazy/uninspired