Digital Dominance: How to Limit the Power of Big Tech (Sir Nick Clegg)
Radical with Amol Rajan
BBC
4.5 • 919 Ratings
🗓️ 13 November 2025
⏱️ 72 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
How should we balance innovation, power and accountability in the digital age? This week, Amol speaks to Sir Nick Clegg — former UK deputy prime minister and former president of global affairs at Meta — about the power and responsibility of big tech companies. Sir Nick argues that breaking them up won’t solve the problem of their digital dominance, calling instead for greater regulation and user control.
He discusses how technology shapes young people’s lives, warning against moral panic whilst calling for stronger age-appropriate safeguards and phone-free schools. And with rare candour, Sir Nick offers an insider’s perspective on how Silicon Valley really works — and why governments, not tech CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg, must ultimately set the rules.
He also talks about politics and philosophy, arguing that true liberalism — rooted in reason, openness, and the belief in evidence over emotion — remains vital in an increasingly polarised world.
(00:03:20) Concerns about the impact of AI
(00:07:00) The power paradox and network effects
(00:06:11) Children and smartphones
(00:22:17) Social media and political polarisation
(00:34:00) What’s Mark Zuckerberg really like?
(00:37:56) Why tech bosses are not moral leaders
(00:41:36) Why he left Meta
(00:44:10) The future of technology and power
(00:49:26) The race for AI ‘supremacy’ between the US and China
(00:52:00) Preparing for this new digital world
(00:53:11) Why has politics changed so much since he was deputy prime minister?
(00:57:55) Is liberalism weak?
(01:01:20) What’s next for Sir Nick Clegg?
(01:05:16) Amol’s reflections
GET IN TOUCH * WhatsApp: 0330 123 9480 * Email: radical@bbc.co.uk Episodes of Radical with Amol Rajan are released every Thursday and you can also watch them on BBC iPlayer: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m002f1d0/radical-with-amol-rajan Amol Rajan is a presenter of the Today programme on BBC Radio 4. He is also the host of University Challenge on BBC One. Before that, Amol was media editor at the BBC and editor at The Independent.
Radical with Amol Rajan is a Today Podcast. It was made by Lewis Vickers with Anna Budd. Digital production was by Gabriel Purcell-Davis. Technical production was by Jonny Hall and Ben Andrews. The editor is Sam Bonham. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.7 | Thank you so much for getting in touch with your questions for the farmer and author James |
| 0:10.2 | Rebanks. He's going to be our first guest to do this extra Q&A episode with us. Remember, |
| 0:15.3 | this is an experimental second episode where you get to put your questions to our brilliant guests, |
| 0:20.1 | and I really pursue |
| 0:21.3 | answers on your behalf. You're going to be able to hear the one with James Rebanks very soon |
| 0:25.2 | and the next person that we would love to have your questions for is the magnificent |
| 0:29.9 | novelist Naomi Alderman. She has just released her first nonfiction book. It's called Don't |
| 0:35.9 | Burn Anyone at the State Today. It's inspired by |
| 0:38.8 | a Radio 4 series that she made about the way that new technologies open up new ways of thinking, |
| 0:45.0 | which, as you can imagine, is quite a good fit for this podcast. So if you're interested in the |
| 0:50.0 | huge technological shift that we're living through, which you're about to hear me discuss |
| 0:53.6 | in this |
| 0:54.3 | episode with Sir Nick Clegg. And if you want some answers about how to understand that shift or |
| 0:58.9 | deal with it or what you need to do to prepare your family for it, please send us your questions |
| 1:04.3 | for Naomi. Of course, you can just send us your questions for Naomi Alderman if you're a big |
| 1:08.7 | fan of her books. And there are a lot of fans of her books. Her first one was called Disobedience out in 2006. Ten years later she wrote The Power, of course, which was turned into a big series. So she's a huge internationally acclaimed author. And if you just love her books and want to ask her about being a writer, that's also fine. We're really keen to get all of your questions for Naomi Alderman. |
| 1:28.0 | Send those questions as a voice note on WhatsApp to 0-330-123-9-4-80, 0-330-1-2-3-94-80, |
| 1:38.9 | or email Radical at BBC.com.uk. This is exciting, isn't it? Right, here's this week's episode. |
| 1:47.1 | Hello, it's Amol here and welcome to radical conversations about the deep global trends |
| 1:51.8 | changing our world and some radical ideas for the future. One of the fundamental and often |
| 1:58.0 | debated questions of our time, which we've talked about a fair bit on |
... |
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