Martin Moore, Senior Research Fellow at King's College London, examines the new and growing phenomenon of global tech giants, their increasing civic power, and what this means for democracies. The study aims to open debate about the role of the tech giants – notably Google, Facebook, Apple and others – in democracy and civic life, as distinct from their impact on privacy and security, or their economic and financial status.

Moore presents a new conceptual framework for considering their role, based on the democratic functions they are starting to perform and in the light of their increasing dominance. It ends on the knotty question of how democratic societies should respond. Given the relative failure of most responses to date, coupled with the speed of change, he suggests that this question is fast becoming urgent.