Is the tide turning against big tech? So long seen as the pioneers of human potential, Silicon Valley’s giants are suddenly coming under fire from several sides for what is perceived as an excessive and unhealthy influence on our lives.
For a while it was lawmakers who were most vexed by tax evasion and the damaging spread of fake news, but at the World Economic Forum last week it was notable to hear senior business voices rounding on the big tech firms for their monopolistic, innovation-crushing tendencies. With the threat looming of enforced breakups, market regulation or even data collection curbs, Jamie Doward on the Guardian Weekly cover this week asks what the future holds for Facebook, Google and their ilk.
On the news pages Hadley Freeman goes behind the story of disgraced US gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar, the man at the heart of the sports world’s biggest-ever sexual abuse scandal. Across Europe, a battle is looming between rural dwellers and conservationists over the return of the wolf.
From the Middle East, we cast light on the complex situation unfolding on Turkey’s southern border, where Syrian rebel fighters are coming to Ankara’s aid in an operation to crush ethnic Kurds. There’s also a Washington Post analysis of several recent devastating attacks in the Afghan capital Kabul, and what they reveal about the US military strategy in the country.
Around the world there was more alarming environmental news on issues ranging from plastic pollution to air quality. We bring you up to speed.
The Weekly Review big read this week delves into the business of dying well, as people make ever more elaborate preparations for the inevitable business of death. There’s also an inside look into the small-town US world of amateur brawling, where expectations are high but rarely seem to match the reality for the participants.
Discovery lifts the lid on a fascinating prehistoric human jawbone find that is upending previous theories about the spread of humans across the planet.
Culture shines a light on the often tricky world of French Muslim comedian Yassine Belattar. Books looks back on Britain’s famous Cambridge spies of the cold war era, and their lasting mark on the nation’s psyche. In Sport, we reflect on the 20th grand slam of Roger Federer’s tennis career, and Caroline Wozniacki’s first.
The back page rounds off the issue with a powerful piece by Afua Hirsch on the reality of racial prejudice in Britain and the misery of having to argue with critics who question whether it really exists.
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