As the “ techlash” widens against technology companies, markets are jittery that 2019 will be the year when the likes of Facebook and Google are finally curbed by regulators. The volatility of tech stock prices is in part a reaction to worries that the drumbeat of scandals around privacy, election manipulation and anti-competitive behaviour will prompt tougher rules from Washington or Brussels. But how likely is it that politicians, who in the US in particular depend on Big Tech for campaign finance, will crack down?
隨著針對科技公司的抵制情緒蔓延,市場擔心2019年將是Facebook和谷歌(Google)等大型科技公司終於要受到監管機構約束的元年。科技股波動在一定程度上是對以下這種擔憂作出的反應:圍繞私隱、操縱選舉和反競爭行爲的醜聞層出不窮,將促使華盛頓或布魯塞爾方面出臺更嚴厲的規定。但政客們、特別是依賴於大型科技公司捐助競選資金的美國政客們,採取嚴厲措施的可能性有多大呢?