Microsoft President: Democracy Is At Stake, Regulate Big Tech

Photo caption: Microsoft President Brad Smith says governments need to set rules for big technology companies. “Almost no technology has gone so entirely unregulated, for so long, as digital technology,” he says.

According to Smith, the threat that Microsoft posed during its protracted antitrust case was economic. Today, the tech giants — whose tools have been used to interfere in fair and free elections — are posing a much bigger threat to the political stability of many countries, including the U.S. …

Regulate us. That’s the unexpected message from one of the country’s leading tech executives. Microsoft President Brad Smith argues that governments need to put some “guardrails” around engineers and the tech titans they serve.

If public leaders don’t, he says, the Internet giants will cannibalize the very fabric of this country […]

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