If I make a product and I don't specifically help you do certain things with it, is that authoritarian?

Regardless, we're talking about products here—"authoritarian" is a word reserved to situations where the threat of force is involved.

In this specific example, forcing a company to do something is authoritarian (because they will be fined or jailed if they do not comply with the rules). Corporations are not, as a rule, authoritarian—they may, however, do things that are not to your benefit or liking.

> If I make a product and I don't specifically help you do certain things with it, is that authoritarian?

If were referring to products necessary to function in society, YES! Obviously yes, a big exclaiming yes, yes with no room for debate.

A car, but you can't drive anywhere but to work. Electricity, but you can't use it to listen to radio that criticizes our dear leader. A TV, but you can't use it to watch anything other than military parades.

A phone, but you can only use it to perform government approved actions on government approved software.

> A phone, but you can only use it to perform government approved actions on government approved software.

Are you not more or less arguing for this?

But you're right to point to a nasty problem, the solution to which is not obvious: "what do you do when society begins to rely on something created by a corporation, which is not accountable to a populace?"

Turning the corporation into a mini government may not have the effects you want