With you, we are building a new political consciousness to challenge the power of Big Tech. What is happening in the US is a warning. Sign up here and catch our reporting, actions and events.
We understand that the issues at hand look daunting and overwhelming. Which is why the Citizens has been building a community of journalists, researchers, academics, artists, campaigners and citizens - so we can network, share resources and brainstorm together. There are only a few Tech Bros, and a lot of us.
Many of you have been asking us, what can you do in the face of technoauthoritarianism? So, we compiled a list! It is not exhaustive (and far from perfect), but it is a start.
1/ Educate: Understand how Big Tech got so Big!
Read:
Explainers
- Big Tech - The rise of GAFAAMT | Transnational Institute
- Getting to the Source of Infodemics: It’s the Business Model | Ranking Digital Rights
- How Google’s Ad Business Funds Disinformation Around the World | ProPublica
- It's Not Just the Content, It's the Business Model: Democracy’s Online Speech Challenge | Ranking Digital Rights
- What is Big Tech’s surveillance-based business model? | Amnesty International
Articles
- A new era dawns. America’s tech bros now strut their stuff in the corridors of power | Carole Cadwalladr, The Observer
- Bots and ballots: How artificial intelligence is reshaping elections worldwide | Mark Scott, POLITICO, presented by Luminate
- Facebook, Twitter and other social media companies need to be treated like Big Tobacco | Joan Donovan, NBC News
- How Big Tech got so big: Hundreds of acquisitions | Chris Alcantara, Kevin Schaul, Gerrit De Vynck and Reed Albergotti, Washington Post
- How Big Tech Got So Damn Big | Cory Doctorow, WIRED
- Political leaders must push back against tech bullies | Marietje Schaake, Financial Times
- The Cambridge Analytica Files | The Guardian
- The Roots of Big Tech Run Disturbingly Deep | Tim Wu and Stuart A. Thompson, New York Times
- The Tech Bros Move Fast and Break Things – First Up: Democracy | Manasa Narayanan and Sabrina Provenzani, Byline Times & The Citizens
Books
- Algorithms of Oppression How Search Engines Reinforce Racism | Safiya Noble
- Atlas of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence | Kate Crawford
- Brotopia: Breaking Up the Boys’ Club of Silicon Valley | Emily Chang
- Data and Goliath: The Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control Your World | Bruce Schneier
- Feeding the Machine, the hidden human labor powering AI | James Muldoon
- Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture | Kyle Chayka
- How to Stand Up to a Dictator: The Fight for Our Future | Maria Ressa
- Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men | Caroline Criado Perez
- Meme Wars: The Untold Story of the Online Battles Upending Democracy in America | Joan Donovan
- Privacy Is Power: Why and How You Should Take Back Control of Your Data | Carissa Véliz
- Surveillance Valley: The Secret Military History of the Internet | Yasha Levine
- Technically Wrong: Sexist Apps, Biased Algorithms, and Other Threats of Toxic Tech | Sara Wachter-Boettcher
- The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power | Shoshana Zuboff
- The Algorithm: How AI Decides Who Gets Hired, Monitored, Promoted, and Fired | Hilke Schellmann
- The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads | Tim Wu
- The Little Black Book of Data and Democracy | Kyle Taylor
- The Tech Coup: How to Save Democracy from Silicon Valley | Marietje Schaake
- The Walls Have Eyes: Surviving Migration in the Age of Artificial Intelligence | Petra Molnar
- Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism | Anne Applebaum
- Uncanny Valley: A Memoir | Anna Wiener
- Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy | Cathy O’Neil
- Your Face Belongs to Us: The Secretive Startup Dismantling Your Privacy | Kashmir Hill
- Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe | Roger McNamee
[Note: McNamee, Ressa, Zuboff, Noble, Donovan and Schaake are members of the Real Facebook Oversight Board, a project by the Citizens. And Cadwalladr, Narayanan and Provenzani are part of the Citizens.]
Watch:
Movies & TV Shows
- Black Mirror, 2011
- Disconnect, 2012
- Her, 2013
- Snowden, 2016
- The Circle, 2017
- The Social Network, 2010
Documentaries
- BlackBerry, 2023
- Citizenfour, 2014
- Coded Bias, 2020
- iHuman, 2019
- Phantom Parrot, 2023
- Terms and Conditions May Apply, 2013
- The Antisocial Network: Memes to Mayhem, 2024
- The Billion Dollar Code, 2021
- The Dropout, 2022
- The Great Hack, 2019
- The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley, 2019
- The Social Dilemma, 2020
- ‘2073’, 2024
Videos
- A Warning to America - 2073 and The Arrival of Techno Authoritarianism | The Citizens
- Amazon | Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj | Netflix
- Can we build a better Internet? | Tech Breakdown via The Real Facebook Oversight Board
- Defeating Authoritarianism: How People and Media Can Stand Up for Freedom Now | Free Press
- Facebook's role in Brexit — and the threat to democracy | Carole Cadwalladr | TED
- From Big Tech to AI, Have We Learnt? | A Conversation with Roger McNamee | Tech Breakdown via The Real Facebook Oversight Board
- FTC Chair Lina Khan’s Exit Interview: Challenging AI, Big Tech and More | WSJ
- India's Two Bullies Silencing Dissent | A Conversation with Rana Ayyub | Tech Breakdown via The Real Facebook Oversight Board
- Is Regulation The Big (Tech) Fix? | Tech Breakdown via The Real Facebook Oversight Board
- Maria Ressa: How Social Media Uses Free Speech To Stifle Free Speech | The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
- People as commodity: Cambridge Analytica & the Business of Big Data | Tech Breakdown via The Real Facebook Oversight Board
- Search Engines, AI & The Politics Of Oppression | With Safiya Noble | Tech Breakdown via The Real Facebook Oversight Board
- The rise of Big Tech | Jonathan Haidt, Shannon Vallor, Yanis Varoufakis, & more | The Institute of Art and Ideas
- The Rise of Techno-Authoritarianism | The Atlantic
- What is it to be a woman in the digital age? | With The Good Robot | Tech Breakdown via The Real Facebook Oversight Board
- Why people should govern surveillance technology | Marietje Schaake | TEDx
- Young People Take On Big Tech | Tech Breakdown via The Real Facebook Oversight Board
[Note: We are the impact partner for the documentary feature 2073, directed by Oscar-winner Asif Kapadia.]
Share:
Book / film / music recommendations with the movement, by joining this Citizens community Signal group or emailing us on info@the-citizens.com
2/ Practice: Take small actions to limit the flow of data
- Use a privacy-friendly browser like Firefox or Safari
- Use ad blockers and anti-tracking tools
- Enable Google’s “Do Not Track” feature
- Clear cache and cookies regularly
- Change device-level privacy settings, like turning off location sharing
- Use a VPN to hide browser history
- Switch on incognito mode while browsing
- Limit what you share online, including on social media
- Be mindful of the privacy tradeoff of new apps
3/ Connect: Build solidarity and share ideas
The Citizens is the impact partner for Asif Kapadia's documentary feature 2073, and this group has been created for people to connect, converse and fight back against the power of Big Tech; a theme at the core of Kapadia's film. The Citizens team is here - but primarily it's your space.
In order to join, you will need to install the Signal app. Signal is a bit like Whatsapp - but you can hide your phone number and it’s not owned by Big Tech!
- Send us ideas for events and workshops on info@the-citizens.com
- Want to collaborate with us and host an event/workshop yourself? Reach out on info@the-citizens.com
4/ Rebuild: Rethink the Internet and our relationship with it
- Attend these events and workshops
We continue to advertise our events and workshops on this page, in case there aren't any on at the moment, try the page again soon!