To build a democratic digital future, the powerful tech companies must be broken up and public infrastructures strengthened. This is what we are calling for together with over 70 organisations worldwide in a new manifesto.
We, people and organisations from around the world, are fighting for a future in which the digital infrastructure that permeates this world is at the service of people, workers and the planet. A future where creativity and innovation can flourish freely, without centralised control.
We believe in a world where control over data and technology is decentralised, redistributed and democratised and no longer in the hands of dangerous tech monopolists. A world where people are free to choose which digital tools they use to explore the world and connect with each other, without having to give up their privacy or other rights. A world in which we have full control and can trust what social media shows us, because algorithms are not in charge, designed to monitor, exploit, incite and addict us.
We know that such a world is possible and important, and urgently so. But it will not happen on its own. For the digital future to be what we all deserve, states must act decisively and with all their resources. Only then can they break up the powerful tech monopolies and put the digital economy on a path that promotes innovation, fair competition and democratic values. This is the only way that people will be truly free and self-determined to choose goods and services that benefit them rather than exploit them.
Big tech has locked us into a distorted image of the digital world. It is systematically undermining our democracy and making the rich richer, while at the same time increasing inequality around the world. It is up to us to tear down the walled gardens with which Big Tech ultimately only protects its own profits and not the well-being of all. This will unleash progress, fair competition and innovation in a new digital economy that can serve the billions of people who truly make up the internet, rather than the few who currently hold the reins. To achieve this, states must:
1) Break up Big Tech and ensure fair competition
To create optimal conditions for a new digital economy, regulators need to tackle the structural power of the tech giants head on and create a level playing field for alternatives to emerge and develop. This includes:
- The stricter implementation of current competition and antitrust law: This allows dominant tech groups to be broken up, while further consolidation is prevented by prohibiting further mergers and acquisitions.
- The commitment of dominant technology companies to greater interoperability: this would allow user groups to choose freely and switch easily between different platforms and providers. New market participants would be given a chance and the platforms’ recommendation systems could be customised.
- Appropriate taxation of dominant tech companies, e.g. through a digital tax: this way, the enormous profits can be redistributed.
2) Promote a new and fair digital economy
Government industrial policy must proactively promote a more open and diverse ecosystem of digital services that serves the common good and not private profit maximization. This includes:
- the provision of extensive investment to promote a public digital infrastructure with free and open source software in accordance with the principle of the digital commons;
- the use of public procurement as a market lever for the introduction and expansion of open and interoperable alternatives to dominant big tech companies;
- the introduction and enforcement of robust measures for the protection of human rights and transparent governance, including with regard to the public digital infrastructure.
The digital world is our world; its hardware and software is the infrastructure of human networking. This world is too big, too important, to be left in the hands of a few who are only acting out of self-interest. If governments take the proposed measures, they can do more than just alleviate the symptoms caused by the concentrated power of tech companies and their harmful business models. Instead, a better and fairer digital economy can emerge. Now is the time to start.
Further information
The manifesto was coordinated by the Balanced Economy Project, People vs Big Tech and IT for Change. It is accompanied by a concept paper that outlines a vision for a new digital economy.
Signatories
Accountable Tech
African Internet Rights Alliance
AfroLeadership
AI Forensics
Alternatif Bilisim (AiA-Alternative Informatics Association)
Alliance4Europe
ARTICLE 19
Associação Alternativa Terrazul
Association for Progressive Communications
Balanced Economy Project
Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communications
Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project (CAMP)
Center for the Study of Organized Hate
Centre for Artificial Intelligence Ethics and Governance in Africa (CAIEGA)
Check My Ads Institute
Coding Rights
Commons Network
Consortium of Ethiopian Human Rights Organizations
Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO)
Council for Responsible Social Media
CyberLove
Defend Democracy
Digital Action
digiQ
Digitalcourage
Ekō
European Digital Rights (EDRi)
Fair Vote UK
Federación de Consumidores y Usuarios CECU
Forum on Information and Democracy
Foxglove
German NGO Forum on Environment & Development
GRESEA
Hindus for Human Rights
Homo Digitalis
Human Rights Journalists Network Nigeria
HuMENA for Human Rights and Civic Engagement
IT 4 CHange
Lie Detectors
LobbyControl e.V.
LODelle
Nexus Research Cooperative
Open Future
Open MIC
Open Markets Institute
Panoptykon Foundation
People Vs Big Tech
PLZ Cooperative
Public Citizen
Rebalance Now
SHARE Foundation
SocialTIC
SOMO
Superbloom Design
TEDIC
Tehila
The Citizens
The London Story
Transnational Institute
UBUNTEAM
University of Cologne
Uplift
Waag Futurelab
WACC
Wikimedia Germany
T20 Working Group on Information Integrity, Interoperability & Media Diversity (i3M)
World Economy, Ecology & Development – WEED
Xnet, Institute for Democratic Digitalization
Robin Berjon, Governance & Standards Technologist
Dr. Ian Brown, Centre for Technology and Society at Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV)
Dr. Christina J. Colclough, The Why Not Lab
Dr. Maria Farrell, Writer
Michelle Meagher, Competition lawyer and author