M Pub 2020 602SPGPP#02 // S 3LP   ::320895::
M Pub 2020 603SPSEP#02 // S 3LP   ::320894::

Comment
Digitalization and technological advancement have profoundly reshaped people’s lives. While Big Tech companies promise that their innovations will enhance efficiency and provide valuable assistance to human life, these developments have not come without risks. Critical questions emerge from the business models of platforms such as ride-hailing apps (like Uber or Grab), which often deny workers access to basic rights such as social security. Meanwhile, the rise of surveillance capitalism allows tech companies to extract and monetise without consent or adequate accountability freely. This course examines the political economy of Big Tech’s innovation race and the ways public policy can mitigate the social, economic, and democratic consequences of digital transformation. Throughout the course, we will explore practical policy responses and case studies from highly industrialised economies and the Global South. Key domains include platform (tech companies) governance, data protection and surveillance, intellectual property, digital labour and employment, entrepreneurship, and the environmental sustainability of tech infrastructure.

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