CEP Executive Director David Ibsen writes in New Europe magazine: "In 2018 the public and policymakers will have to reckon with the ever-growing power of the tech industry. Alphabet, Google’s parent company, is now valued at $730 billion (€605 billion), a little under the GDP of the Netherlands. Facebook is valued at $500 billion (€415 billion), and 66 percent of its two billion users rely on the social media platform as their daily news source. The power of these companies and their potential for misuse was on full display in 2017. Incitement of terrorism and violence by terrorists and racists, nefarious manipulations of voters and the democratic process, and the scourge of fake news are just a few of the problematic issues that have come to be associated with these platforms."