He adds: “[Big Tech’s] interests may not always align with public or national interests [as they are] understandably driven by commercial considerations. So, it is important for Big Tech and countries to find respectful and constructive ways to manage policies and regulations that countries may find necessary, but which Big Tech consider unfavourable to their operating and commercial interests.”
With many of our daily activities today becoming digital, we are very much dependent on Big Tech’s systems and the data they hold. This is why governments understand the need to work with Big Tech – like Microsoft and Google – to solve the challenges we face in the digital domain.
However, establishing trust between governments and Big Tech can be challenging, notes Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security Teo Chee Hean. “Governments may not necessarily know how best [work with Big Tech] because issues of national security, defence, and social governance have long been the exclusive domain of governments. This is further complicated by the fact that for the vast majority of countries, Big Tech are foreign entities,” he says at the Singapore International Cyber Week (SICW) event yesterday.
