Year in Review: The top five biggest tech stories of 2022
Christopher Hutton
Video Embed
Technology played a major role in the politics of 2022, from the roller coaster of changes surrounding a certain billionaire’s purchase of a social platform to the struggles of cryptocurrency.
Here are the top five tech-centric stories of 2022.
REPUBLICANS ‘FLABBERGASTED’ BY RNC RESPONSE TO TRUMP, EMAILS REVEAL
Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter: Musk made news in the spring of 2022 when he announced that he had invested in Twitter. He soon after attempted to purchase the platform, but the SpaceX founder found himself regretting the move by June. Musk spent several months afterward alleging that the company had lied about its user base in an attempt to justify backing out of the purchase.
Musk’s attempt to end the deal did not hold up in court, leading to him paying $44 billion to take Twitter private. Since then, he has allowed several controversial figures on the platform in the name of “free speech,” struggled to launch a premium subscription service, and cut more than half of the company’s staff. It remains uncertain if Musk will be able to turn Twitter around and help it make a profit, but the billionaire’s vision for the company will either make or break it in the coming months and weeks.
FTX’s fall and crypto collapse: Cryptocurrency saw a surge of interest in 2021 as investors and technologists began to put more and more money into digital assets. It seemed like it was all on the rise until the collapse of the Luna token in May, which caused the market to collapse. The crypto market experienced a “winter” of sorts as investors lost trust in the markets.
This was further worsened when FTX, one of the largest crypto exchanges in the industry, fell apart after users doubted its ability to repay their deposits — and it was later found to have badly misused their funds. FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is now under scrutiny from regulators in multiple countries, and his behavior could spark Congress to enact crypto-related regulations.
The melting of the metaverse: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg made a major change in the fall of 2021 when he renamed his company to Meta and said it was investing billions into virtual reality and augmented reality. It has been slow going so far. The company’s virtual reality platform struggled to attract users, Meta experienced its first decline in revenue, and investors lost some faith in the company.
Antitrust’s stall: Saying giants like Microsoft and Google exercise too much power over markets, regulators and tech critics have sought to enact antitrust legislation. Lawmakers like Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) have pushed hard for bills to curb the influence of Big Tech but have struggled to get them over the finish line.
With Republicans controlling the House, it is unclear what role antitrust will take in tech legislation for the 118th Congress. That doesn’t mean Big Tech issues have stepped down from being a priority in Congress, but a split Congress makes it less likely that substantial measures will pass.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Social media alternatives: Networks like Parler, GETTR, and former President Donald Trump’s Truth Social saw a surge of interest in 2022, acting as an alternative to large networks like Twitter and Facebook. While the networks presented themselves as free of content moderation, the companies had their own troubles. Truth Social faced some financial troubles, and Parler has also seen user numbers decline, as well as a major deal with the rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, come to an end. Following Musk’s takeover of Twitter, liberal critics have turned to their own alternatives, such as Mastodon and Tribel.