In light of the recent Cambridge Analytica scandal and the ongoing questions raised over Facebook’s use of customer data, never before has the ethics of technology and business been such a fierce topic of debate. But why is it dominating so much of the discussion about the operation of tech companies and what is the other side of the story?

“Never before in history have such a small number of designers – a handful of young, mostly male engineers, living in the Bay of California, working at a handful of tech companies – had such a large influence on two billion people’s thoughts and choices,” said Tristan Harris, Google’s former design ethicist.

Consider this: 400 hours of video content is uploaded to YouTube every minute. How would we feel if we were suddenly told that what we upload would no longer be instantly available to our friends and followers but instead would have to go through an extensive scrutiny process before being accepted or rejected in two weeks’ time?

It is no coincidence that public awareness and concern around the ethical actions of tech companies is becoming so pronounced at a time when we are seeing heightened demands and expectations in relation to freedom of speech.

A major reason for the popularity of websites such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter is the freedom they give us to express our individuality to the world at large. They allow us to connect with others like us, to create groups and events specific to our interests and hobbies, and they facilitate this by asking us to provide ever-more specific data. No one is forcing us to give up this data – we choose to do so because we want a more personalised experience from the companies we engage with.

The problem is that in the quest to provide a more personalised service, tech companies have to achieve a balance between giving us what we actually want and giving us what they think we want.

This is not necessarily about large tech companies harvesting our data to make money through advertising – although that is part of it. It is often an attempt to pre-empt our desires and keep us engaged. The problem is that we, as consumers, aren’t always ready to receive the latest service they want to offer.