Big tech innovations have radically transformed our economies, our polities and our personal lives, and the rate at which these transformations continue is showing no signs of slowing. Oftentimes, these changes are a double edged sword–at once creating new pathways to prosperity while disrupting whole sectors and undermining labor protections or facilitating seamless global communications while unleashing torrents of misinformation and endangering personal data. One thing that’s certain is that the rate of this innovation is likely to remain well ahead of regulators, who will struggle to apply outdated rules to new ventures, write new rules to address emerging threats, and struggle to monitor vast and complex information systems housed within multi-billion dollar tech companies.
In this growing gray space on the cutting edge of big tech innovation, whistleblowers are emerging as uniquely vital players who can help regulators, lawmakers and the public identify, understand and address the challenges posed by new technologies. The urgency and public interest behind their disclosures often requires more than a legal filing–they have the power to change national and international discourses around new technologies and spur real change. Big tech whistleblowers and the free press that tells their stories will continue to wield huge influence in the coming years, and what we have seen in the last 18 months alone with Facebook, Uber, and Twitter whistleblowers is just the tip of the iceberg.