KT edit: Digital walls going up as Big Tech wars loom

The promise of a closer, connected world, a modern and virtual insularity to real life has been appealing for a quarter of a century since technology companies promoted the idea in the late nineties. From the dotcom boom years has emerged what is now known as Big Tech, that we cannot live without, the very essence of life, so to speak, that which is omnipresent and threatening to become all powerful that governments have been forced to intervene to protect 'national security'. There is growing scepticism about the power of the leading technological companies, both in the West and the East. Technology is viewed with concern as the digital space is being converted into a conflict zone.
But, over the last five years, those concerns have grown and are spilling over into diplomacy. The fears have been heightened in the US with a nationalist president claiming that some tech powerhouses from China are being used as spying tools at the behest of Beijing. US President Donald Trump is considering banning the popular app TikTok. He has claimed that the app is gathering data that could be shared with the Chinese government. In December last year, the Pentagon had asked military personnel should delete TikTok from all devices due to 'potential security risks associated with its use.' The US armed forces had issued similar advisories earlier. TikTok, like Huawei, is a tech target in Washington's ongoing trade and diplomatic war with China. In June, India, the largest market for TikTok, banned the application along with 58 others following its border dispute with Beijing. The app in a very short span of time has become been a favourite of influencers and other wannabes who seek easy fame.
But it is not just Chinese firms that have been under fire from governments. Silicon Valley's Big Tech firms like Google, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft have their own problems in Europe and even at home for allegedly killing off smaller competition and innovation. Privacy concerns have dogged technology companies since their inception. In China, Western Big Tech have been walled out, and Trump's plans to target TikTok could be a precursor of what is to come. Countries are building digital fortresses to keep out rival technology companies in the name of national security. Big Tech is mining Big Data and there is Big Money in the tech game that both countries and corporations seek to exploit to gain a geopolitical edge over the other. Trump's move should, therefore, be seen as a diplomatic stunt to gain some leverage among voters ahead of the election in November. Microsoft, meanwhile, is in talks to buyout TikTok that denies it shares information of its users with Beijing. Whether that will suit Trump's failing campaign will be seen in the coming days. But for those on social media, the trust deficit has only risen - in Big Government, Big Tech, and Big Data.