Privacy concerns will slow surging tech valuations

Subject

Technology sector outlook.

Significance

US tech firm Apple will soon become the world’s first 1-trillion-dollar company. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite equities index has increased by 41% since the beginning of 2017, nearly twice that of the S&P 500 and the world MSCI equities index. Concerns about overvaluation are colliding with rising fears and awareness of the power that the tech firms hold over citizens and governments.

Impacts

• The substantial power that is being accumulated by the leading technology platforms will come under increasing review.
• In response to consumer concerns and upcoming regulation, technology companies will scramble to update their privacy disclosures.
• Privacy subcategories including medical records, and biometric and genetic data have not drawn scrutiny thus far; this could change.
• A more fundamental question of how social media affects human society and interaction may also enter political discourse.