![Nationalisation of data would force Big Tech companies to pay nations for the value they are extracting from their citizens, writes Mejias
[File:Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/23c81ceb3ff7483ebca996e4a226bd1e_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
This is one way to ensure technology does not go against the interest of society.
![US President Donald Trump showing a copy of the New York Post before signing an executive order on social media companies at the White House on May 28, 2020 [File: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/71c93a193add46faa7b5c5ab249cdae9_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
Trump’s executive order on social media regulation will not prevent its abuse or the spread of disinformation.
![Commuters wear face masks to protect against the spread of new coronavirus as they walk through a subway station in Beijing, on April 9, 2020 [AP/Mark Schiefelbein]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/8d00fbb0d0514350a8f8e063d1499ab5_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
Governments and corporations should not be allowed to use the pandemic as an excuse to expand surveillance.
![Motorists ride past a billboard displaying Facebook's Free Basics initiative in Mumbai, India, December 30, 2015 [File: Reuters/Danish Siddiqui]](/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/b0fc41a136874bc0baee7d66bf303166_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
Big Tech corporations are extracting data from users across the world without paying for it. It is time to change that.