Tech Companies Are Ruining America’s Image
The United States has become identified with the global internet economy — for better and worse.
Article/Op-Ed in Foreign Policy
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May 14, 2018
Joshua Geltzer and Dipayan Ghosh wrote for Foreign Policy on why America's export of communications platforms doesn't reflect well on our values.
It’s time for Americans to recognize that they have a new major cultural export, alongside movies and television: the set of modern communications platforms created in the United States that have since overtaken the world. The question then becomes: If the world looks at America and sees Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter as its profile picture, what does the world think?
Americans should be concerned. We’ve reviewed how America’s new major cultural export has been characterized in the international media and other public discourse lately, and based on that we’ve identified three key features that have become associated with it in the eyes of the global audience. They don’t reinforce America’s long-standing message to the world preaching tolerance and democracy — quite the opposite.