Big tech had a great time last year. Earnings for major players like Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Alphabet were strong and their stock prices rose significantly.
But 2017 was also a year in which the industry was plagued by trust issues. Some of the problems that angered consumers included Facebook not dealing with Russian-backed adverts on its platform, YouTube showing ads next to inappropriate content, and Apple admitting to slowing down older iPhones.
On top of that, worries about increasing automation and job losses are continuing.
Big tech is on rocky ground and 2018 will be a year when the largest companies in the world will have to tread carefully or risk losing users amid rising "techlash."
Already, billionaire investor George Soros has dubbed technology firms a "menace," saying their days are numbered. Facebook even saw a drop in the number of people in the U. and Canada who checked the social network every day during 2017`s third and fourth quarters.
The signs are that big tech risks losing touch with the users that helped them grow to such a scale.
There are two possible paths from here. Firstly, technology companies move quickly to address the trust issues, essentially self-regulating. Secondly, governments do it for them in the form of regulation. This latter outcome is one Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff recently said could be likely. Benioff told CNBC that social media should be treated like a health issue, similar to tobacco and sugar, calling it "addictive."
"We`re the same as any other industry," Benioff said. "(Like) financial services, consumer product goods, food — in technology, the government`s going to have to be involved. There is some regulation but there probably will have to be more.
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