For three months coronavirus pressed pause on the techlash. Then a rebound of market valuations hit the restart button. Scepticism towards US tech companies is on the rise. Expect a summer of renewed activism from privacy and antitrust campaigners.

The bigger the tech industry’s combined market capitalisation, the more fuel is handed to those who argue the sector is too powerful. Last week, Apple became the first $1.5tn company — less than two years after reaching a $1tn market capitalisation milestone. Tech stocks have helped the wider US market to climb despite an economic downturn and country-wide protests. Just five tech companies: Alphabet, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon and Apple now account for almost 23 per cent of the S&P 500 index. Five years ago they made up less than 10 per cent.

In the early days of the crisis Big Tech appeared to take a leading role in the response. Apple and Google won praise for their unexpected decision to work together to produce contact-tracing technology. Demand for cloud computing, video chat apps, online delivery and ecommerce were boosted by lockdowns. By late April, more than one-third of people questioned in a US Harris Poll said their view of the tech industry had grown more positive since the pandemic began.