The Everything App and the Separation of Powers
26th February 2024
In the era of Big Tech ‘Cloud-ism’ or ‘Late Capitalism,’ the de facto three branches of government are mass media, intelligence, and finance. And if we add municipal authority to Montesquieu’s trio, its parody, replacing the town square and marketplace, would be Big Tech’s digital platforms.
Drawing these four cardinal functions together is the idea of an ‘everything app,’ which threatens to concentrate our ability to receive information (media), manage our bank accounts (finance), and make purchases and express opinions (online platforms), all while tracking the citizenry (intelligence).
On one level, the incentive here is convenience. The advantage of an ‘everything app’ isn’t that all these functions will be in one place (your phone’s screen is already one place), but that you can carry out online activities (buy train tickets, get food delivered, check your bank statement, send a message to someone) without having an account with each activity’s service’s provider.