Silent Takeover: How Corporations and Billionaires Are Taking Control
Under the guise of innovation and progress, global corporations like Microsoft, Google, and BlackRock, as well as powerful individuals like Bill Gates, are pushing their way into central areas of life—from health to agriculture to digital identities. It is often overlooked that these actors are not only offering solutions, but also gaining control over essential resources and data.
Genetic Control and the Role of Tech Giants
Programs like the Emirati Genome Program promise breakthroughs in medicine, but they also give large corporations like Microsoft access to sensitive data: our genetic code. With partners like the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Microsoft is using its Terra platform to analyze genetic data. In the future, this data could form the basis for personalized healthcare services, but also for insurance pricing or selecting patients for certain treatments.
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, is also investing heavily in technologies and industries that could benefit from such data, increasing the concentration of power and influence in the hands of a few players. Access to genetic data allows these companies not only to profit from healthcare, but also to create long-term economic and social dependencies.
Bill Gates: The Global Brain
Bill Gates, the former founder of Microsoft, has expanded his reach into almost every area of human life through the Gates Foundation. From vaccination programs to agricultural technology to digital identity, Gates is one of the largest investors in projects designed to solve global problems. One example is Gavi, the vaccine alliance that Gates supports. But critics accuse him of not only being altruistic but also creating profitable markets for the pharmaceutical companies in which Gates invests.
But his influence extends beyond the health sector. Gates is one of the largest landowners in the United States and is investing in agricultural technology solutions that could make small farmers dependent on large corporations. He also supports digital identification systems, such as those promoted by the ID2020 alliance, which link biometric data with digital access to financial and health services.
Data Monopolies and the Dangers of Surveillance
Google and Amazon are other players playing a key role in global surveillance through their massive cloud and data infrastructures. Through programs like Google Health and AWS for Health (Amazon Web Services), these companies are not just collecting data, they are creating platforms that could digitally monitor almost every aspect of human life. This could lead to a future in which corporations make decisions about loans, insurance, or medical treatment based on algorithms—often without transparency or accountability.
Threats to Freedom and Privacy
The role of these corporations and individuals goes far beyond mere economic interests. They actively shape the infrastructure through which societies operate, and they concentrate power in ways that undermine democracies. Technologies that were supposedly created to solve problems are increasingly becoming tools of surveillance and control.
It’s a dangerous development: corporations like Microsoft, Google, and BlackRock are profiting from the creeping takeover of our data, while figures like Bill Gates are using their networks to push a global agenda that often leaves more questions than answers. Time is running out to critically question the influence of these actors—before control of our lives finally falls into the hands of tech giants and investors.
Sources:
Emirati Genome Program opens additional sample collection centers across Abu Dhabi
M42 and Broad Institute partner with Microsoft and International Center for Genetic Disease
