The future of the digital media industry and digital surveillance

Digital industries are sectors created in various fields by major technology firms such as Meta (Facebook), Alphabet (Google), Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon (collectively known as MAAMA). Later, companies like Riot Games, Samsung, Alibaba, Tesla, Sony, and Disney joined them, either as competitors or through transformation and convergence. Today, the media industry has been exposed to digitalization, causing changes in its business models, the technologies it employs, its ownership structures, and its target audiences.

The most prominent feature of digital industries is that they digitize and facilitate the widespread acquisition of tangible world objects—such as tools and equipment used in film, music, books, newspapers, magazines, works of art, and games—within the media industry. In fact, significant steps are currently being taken to achieve this for assets like money, stocks, gold, and silver. It is possible to evaluate these efforts within the framework of blockchain and crypto assets. 

THE PROCESS OF DE-INSTITUTIONALIZATION AND RE-INSTITUTIONALIZATION

One of the most important and critical consequences of "technological development" is that it produces "a general process of de-institutionalization followed by re-institutionalization." We observe examples of technology de-institutionalizing the media industry in the way online newspapers, citizen journalists, Twitter reporters, YouTube influencers, and bloggers transcend national borders and, consequently, are not bound by local laws and regulations, or cultural and ethical frameworks.

In such cases of non-compliance, actions taken by states—such as banning YouTube or blocking access to Twitter—also lead to criticism as they are viewed as obstacles to democratic rights. "Digital communication has fundamentally changed everything we know about communication," and this paradigm shift is largely being driven by major technology firms from outside the media industry. 

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

We can mention two examples to illustrate the extreme point this situation has reached. The first is Mark Zuckerberg, who made a huge global impact by changing his company's name from Facebook to Meta and bringing the concept of the Metaverse back to the agenda, claiming that humanity's new future lies in virtual worlds. The other is the 2 trillion dollar company Microsoft paying 69 billion dollars on January 18, 2022, to acquire Activision Blizzard, the developer of popular video games like Call of Duty and World of Warcraft, marking the highest price paid to date.

DIGITAL MARKET

Major technology firms are looking for new areas to grow their businesses. The fact that the total investment amount of the MAAMA group in 2021 reached 280 billion dollars and that 40% of their sales (which have doubled since 2015) are directed at the same target audience indicates their desire to move into new areas. Firms addressing such a large customer base naturally tend to expand into different fields using the power provided by the big data they possess. However, they cannot fully achieve this because anti-monopoly regulations and digital market laws have been enacted in America and Europe to prevent major technology firms from expanding into adjacent areas. For example, Apple was recently forced to comply with European Union regulations in 2023 and change the charging ports of its iPhones to USB-C type. 

DIGITAL SURVEILLANCE

On the other hand, states are also making efforts in the following areas to avoid losing their superiority to technology companies. 

1. Surveillance and control: The collection of individuals' health and location data, particularly within the scope of measures taken to prevent the spread of disease during the pandemic. Two of the biggest concerns in this regard are the potential for this information to fall into the hands of third parties (for example, when the HES application was first developed, those who accessed personal information due to an open-source code used in the software spread this situation on Twitter) and the uncertainty regarding the future purposes for which states will use the information they collect (such as sharing it with pharmaceutical or insurance companies). 

2. Legislation and judiciary: The enactment of various legal regulations to maintain social order and legal infrastructure and to harmonize them with new technologies.

AWARENESS REGARDING PDP (PROTECTION OF PERSONAL DATA)

To increase social awareness and educate the public, government institutions and NGOs need to discover and utilize the most appropriate communication methods in this regard. This is because the medium of communication is changing. It would be appropriate to list what can be done as typical examples to provide some perspective. 

• Public Service Announcements: Actively explaining what individuals and societies need to do regarding the protection of personal data on television and social media, which are today's dominant communication tools. Utilizing popular figures to make these broadcasts more engaging. 

• TV Series, Shorts, and Reels: Netflix was watched for 9 trillion minutes in 2021. TikTok, on the other hand, was watched for a full 22 trillion minutes. It is very important to include dialogues aimed at raising awareness about PDP in TV series that are currently popular, especially among Generation Y and Z. Additionally, 15-second short videos can be prepared for publication on TikTok. In these videos, celebrities and influencers can convey awareness-raising information about PDP. The impact of such work is greater than that of books today. They are very important tools, especially for reaching Generation Z and Generation Alpha, compared to books and written documents. 

• Computer Games: As I mentioned at the beginning, major technology firms are making huge investments in the gaming sector. One of the areas where awareness-raising efforts regarding PDP should be carried out is the gaming sector. By making agreements with gaming companies, awareness-raising information about PDP can be provided within the games.