Shift and Ctrl: Who should be in charge of Big Tech Companies?

In this session, McCann FitzGerald Chair of Corporate Law at Trinity College Dublin, Professor Blanaid Clarke, examined governance issues in Big Tech companies against a background of ever-increasing regulatory scrutiny. Some of these issues, such as culture, artificial intelligence and diversity, are common to many large enterprises while others arise from the special role Big Tech companies play in our economic, political and social lives and the systemic risks which this creates. 

As the EU Headquarters of many of these tech companies are in Ireland, an opportunity exists for Ireland to play a leadership role in developing a governance framework to meet these challenges. The EU's proposed Digital Services Act announced in December 2020 involves a number of risk mitigation measures and its Study on Directors’ Duties and Sustainable Corporate Governance published in July 2020 considers a number of proposals on board responsibilities. Professor Clarke also suggested measures which could be adopted based on our experience regulating financial service entities.