TechnoKings rule, but at what cost?

When it suits them, they claim to represent the young, entrepreneurial edge of a wild-west internet frontier. Yet they behave like greedy multinationals, accruing power and fortunes - in data and money - that many other corporate heads would kill for.

Yes, digital technology has created the platform for mass innovation, on the back of mass communication. Yes, it provides opportunities for us to work together globally to solve previously intractable problems.

Yes, digital tools provide the platform for social enterprise, the fastest growing form of business on the planet.

And yes, even on the environmental front - where BigTech's reliance on plastics, metals and electricity is still a problem - technology can help. Digital tools will play an important role in helping us generate and manage clean fuels such as green hydrogen.

For all these benefits, though, problems with BigTech's performance remain - in areas like opportunity gaps, political imbalances and economic elitism.

The bottom line is this. In the process of their growth, BigTech companies often draw more and more power to themselves and their elite leaders, while preaching equality, sharing and meritocracy to everyone else.