CNBC video above published Oct 6, 2017: IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde talks about regulating big tech, and bitcoin, with CNBC.com's Sara Eisen.
Big Tech's power remains unchallenged
Financial Times (ft.com) video above published Sep 19, 2017: Rana Foroohar, the FT's global business columnist, examines the implications of the dominance of Big Tech groups like Google, Amazon and Facebook for competition ( antitrust, monopoly), for innovation and for the health of democracy. Slide:
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| source: S&P Global |
00:00 IMF Managing Director Christine
00:01 Lagarde laying out her policy agenda in
00:04 a speech ahead of the IMF annual
00:05 meetings next week I got a chance to sit
00:07 down with her for an exclusive interview
00:08 yesterday asked about the increasing
00:10 regulatory and political pressure on big
00:13 tech everything from taxes to fake news
00:16 under the microscope I asked her whether
00:17 companies like Google and Facebook
00:18 actually deserve more regulatory
00:21 scrutiny I think the way in which they
00:25 operate and the value that they generate
00:29 the activity from needs to be looked at
00:32 and I would hope that this can be done
00:34 in cooperation with them you know value
00:38 that is driven by data by information by
00:41 pattern of consumption that we volunteer
00:44 in a way without really us knowing about
00:46 it
00:47 determines the value of what they can
00:50 offer in terms of service services and
00:52 clearly revenue needs to be contributed
00:55 by those companies where it is
00:58 contributed how it is defined
01:00 how intellectual property is going to be
01:02 used as a basis to allocate revenues and
01:06 base taxation on all these things are
01:10 being need to be reinvented and I hope
01:14 that dialogue takes place rather than
01:16 you know harsh adversarial debates have
01:21 they become too powerful competition law
01:25 is there to actually deal with it why
01:27 don't you also ask you about your
01:28 comments which made a lot of waves last
01:30 week on Bitcoin you said could
01:32 ultimately give central bank's a run for
01:33 their money
01:34 mm-hmm so with countries like China and
01:37 Korea this week cracking down is that a
01:40 mistake not to embrace it you know what
01:43 what the Chinese authorities have
01:44 decided is to just ban the initial
01:49 offering of bitcoins and I think that
01:52 they've done that on the basis of the
01:53 analysis that it was at least strongly
01:55 dominated by you know speculation and
01:58 Ponzi like schemes which is certainly
02:02 showing that they are paying attention
02:04 you know when you look at a country like
02:06 like Kenya for instance where transfers
02:08 where taxes being paid totally digitally
02:11 when you look at the way in which
02:13 you know some civil servants are paid
02:15 also totally electronically and and and
02:18 without leakages in the system as is the
02:20 case in some of the developing countries
02:22 when I look at my own country where you
02:25 know of all transactions between you
02:29 know my compatriots and and and the the
02:32 Treasury Department is all now on
02:35 digital support I think there are
02:37 massive changes taking place at the
02:39 moment which everybody needs to be
02:41 attentive to would you ever buy any for
02:43 yourself
02:44 no I didn't and it's too expensive for
02:46 me at the moment we're seeing the guard
02:49 headline Bitcoin is too expensive at the
02:51 moment but seriously her comments about
02:53 the new digital economy and payment
02:55 system and and phrasing that off of the
02:58 question about whether central banks and
03:00 governments should embrace Bitcoin to me
03:03 is a very powerful statement from the
03:05 head of the International Monetary Fund
03:08 especially in light of some other recent
03:10 comments from big bankers completely
03:13 dismissing the idea as a fraud well look
03:14 JPMorgan thinks it's a fraud Bank of
03:17 America thinks it's a terrible idea we
03:18 talked to to see your professor there
03:20 and then Goldman Sachs on the other side
03:22 may be trying to either create a market
03:24 or mining it or who knows what the plan
03:26 is so it's there's everybody's coming on
03:28 in a different side she really raises an
03:30 important question though around how
03:33 taxation needs to change in this digital
03:36 era you've got huge companies like
03:37 Google Facebook they don't make stuff
03:39 like the old manufacturing companies
03:40 everybody knew how to tax those who has
03:42 the convening power to bring those
03:45 companies and others to the table so
03:46 they don't end up saying well whatever
03:48 proposal the EU has or the US has or
03:50 whomever it's unfair who's gonna bring
03:52 all these folks together at a table I
03:54 don't know and I think also that the
03:55 point on privacy is related and that it
03:58 has to be looked at and it has to be I
04:01 think her point was in conjunction with
04:02 the companies and not just regulators
04:05 starting to put all sorts of new rules
04:07 and and stricter sort of laws around
04:09 this right well let's try to figure this
04:11 out