Across the world, big tech companies are playing an increasingly large role in people’s daily lives. Platforms like Google, X, Facebook, and TikTok have become essential for accessing information and communicating with family, friends, and colleagues across borders.
For years, governments have struggled to keep pace with the rapid growth of technology to ensure that innovation does not come at the expense of privacy or public welfare. But as tighter regulations on data access and competition emerge, tech companies are increasingly concerned that certain laws could limit the potential development of technologies, especially artificial intelligence.
These concerns are at the heart of an increasingly intense tug-of-war between big tech companies and governments over how internet platforms should be regulated. In response, governments have taken steps to rein in online platforms and tech companies.
While governments have sought to protect personal data under national laws, tech companies have resisted decentralizing their data operations. Since 2018, the European Union has enforced the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which gives individuals the right to access, correct, or delete their data, while companies are required to obtain explicit consent when collecting user information.
But other government data controls are more explicit in targeting companies seen as linked to foreign powers. In 2018, Australia became the first country to ban Huawei from its 5G rollout, following security warnings from the United States about potential Chinese espionage operations.
The UK, New Zealand, Japan and Canada followed suit in the following years. The US is also leading the charge to regulate TikTok with the state of Montana banning the social media platform entirely in the name of security.
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Vulnerable
Information technology activist Fauzi claims that the position of online media is very vulnerable during the Post Truth Politics era. As a result of this condition, social media plays a very important role and media analysis becomes more complex.
According to him, in the era of 2012 to 2015, online media held an important key in forming public perception. “However, as time went by the public became more critical of information so that social media emerged and now in 2024 it plays a very important role,” said Fauzi Rahman who is also the CEO of PT Skema Data Indonesia at the Smart City Tech Fest event, Thursday (19/9).
Consequently, according to Fauzi, data sources are getting bigger and more varied, making the data increasingly difficult to manage and analyze. “The solution is big data media monitoring and real-time social media monitoring. That is the main key to monitoring the increasingly large and varied data in the two components, namely online media and social media,” explained Fauzi.
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With this method and solution, Fauzi continued, regional data monitoring can be centralized in Jakarta. “For example, in real time or ongoing conditions regarding the issue of the Development of the IKN or the Capital City of the Archipelago, it can be monitored regarding the response and reaction of residents regarding negative, positive, or neutral posts or news in various regions throughout Indonesia on all online media platforms, social media, even print media, and television,” he said.
From big data media monitoring and social media monitoring, the government and stakeholders can draw conclusions regarding whether the development of the IKN is accepted or opposed by the community. “We have an application that can produce big data media monitoring and social media monitoring related to the results of analyzing citizen responses to the development of the IKN. This applies to all existing issues and problems,” he said.
The benefit, said Fauzi, is that the government and all stakeholders who will build a smart city or a smart and modern city need to analyze the needs of the community or the community’s response to government policies in order to develop their region. “From the results of the analysis of big data media monitoring and social media monitoring, the government can have a reference to take strategic steps and policies to continue or stop the program that is being run so that there is no resistance in society,” he concluded. (Ant/Z-2)
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