Break Up With Big Tech
Plus: Standing Up for a Brave Citizen
Dear Citizens,
A heavy start to our jaunty weekly reads, but a major milestone in holding tech accountable for the impacts of AI came this week, with the filing of a lawsuit against Open AI by the family of Adam Raine, alleging ChatGPT encouraged him to take his own life. It’s an important, sobering story but one that could change the conversation about AI.
Here’s what else to read, watch and do this week.
🇺🇸 ONE READ: Tulsi’s Toxic “Political Theater” 🇺🇸
The Citizens’ friend (and an original Real Facebook Oversight Board member) Yael Eisenstat has been a fierce leader working to safeguard democracy in the digital age - speaking openly after leaving Meta about the company’s inability to meet its responsibility to secure elections and much more. Before that, she proudly served her country, as a Foreign Service Officer, Senior Intelligence Officer and Presidential Advisor - roles that required a security clearance.
Earlier this month, more than 12 years after leaving government, Tulsi Gabbard and the Trump Administration came for her, ordering Yael’s security clearance revoked, along with 36 others. Gabbard also made numerous claims that they engaged in unpatriotic and potentially illegal activities.
“This list is therefore obviously political theater, and a dangerous example of the government abusing its powers to punish private citizens for openly exercising their First Amendment constitutional rights… Without any explanation of why I have been targeted, I am left to assume it is because I have chosen to exercise my free speech rights.”
We hope you’ll follow Yael on her various platforms and find ways to support any legal challenges she and her 36 colleagues may ultimately mount. This is a shot across the bow, but one Yael and the others targeted aren’t taking lying down. Read Yael’s full post here:
🎥 ONE WATCH: Don’t Look Away from Can’t Look Away 🎥
Earlier this week, we were joined on Citizens Reunited Live by Laura Marquez-Garrett, Amy Neville and Carole Cadwalladr, who discussed Bloomberg Media’s acclaimed documentary ‘Can’t Look Away: The Case Against Social Media’.
The film follows the Social Media Victims Law Center, a small legal outfit in the US, as it takes Big Tech firms to court for online harms, challenging Section 230 of the Telecommunication Act that gives these companies immunity from content posted on their sites by classifying them as platforms rather than publishers.
Your one watch this week? Can’t Look Away’s gripping trailer:
Want more than the trailer? A watershed piece of storytelling in the fight for accountability against Big Tech, Can’t Look Away is out streaming already, and in cinemas across the UK.
A bonus watch. Here is our discussion with the cast of Can’t Look Away:
The Citizens
💔 ONE ACTION: Breaking Up is Hard to Do 💔
Five Big Tech companies — Google, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple — wield extraordinary influence over the infrastructure, services, and norms that shape our online lives. This concentration of power across search, social media, cloud computing, e-commerce, mobile operating systems and more has serious implications for human rights.
To take this consolidation head on, our friends at Amnesty International today launched Breaking up with Big Tech, a briefing calling on governments to rein in the power of Big Tech
This briefing argues that tackling Big Tech’s market power is not just about market fairness – it is a human rights imperative. And Amnesty in their campaign argue for a coordinated regulatory response to dismantle harmful concentrations of power and build a more pluralistic, rights-respecting digital ecosystem
Want to help make it happen? Read their report and support Amnesty International here.
That’s it for this week.
Team Citizens
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