This 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.

Martin Moore, Senior Research Fellow at King's College London, asks readers to imagine if on June 23 this year British citizens looking at google.co.uk found the words '#VoteIn' towards the bottom of the search page. Moore claims that most of us still think of Google – and the services of other tech giants such as...