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During his participation in the annual summit of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, the president of Alibaba Group, John Michael Evans, announced that his company is preparing a tracking device that will monitor what each user consumes on a daily basis under the excuse of combating climate change.
“We are developing, through technology, an ability for consumers to measure their own carbon footprint,” Evans told the WEF audience. “What does that mean? Where they are traveling. How they are traveling. What are they eating. What they are consuming on the platform.”
Evans asked the audience to stay “tuned” because, although it is not yet available on the market, his company is working on it.
“Are you serious?”: backlash against Alibaba
Reactions on social media were not long in coming, ranging from anger and indignation all the way to fear for the future.
Ohio Republican Senate candidate J.D. Vance appealed to the WEF’s hypocrisy in an ironic tweet, “Imagine flying a private jet to a conference of the world’s most powerful people and then lecturing other people on their carbon footprint.”
Conservative comedian and host, Tim Young, chose irony: “Oh, I was told this was a conspiracy theory last year.”
J. Kyle Bass, an influential American businessman and investor, considers Evans’ proposal “frightening”.
“Frightening. I wonder if Alibaba will develop a world record for carbon emissions?” Bass tweeted, and attached a graphic showing China (home of Alibaba Group) as the top CO2 emitting country.
