We are a growing movement fighting for a different digital future
We believe in the original promise of the internet as a force for good.
But a small group of tech corporations have cheated us of that dream, instead constructing a toxic, online world where they exploit our private data and attention to build vast advertising empires.
While they make obscene profits, we face the devastation of a system designed to keep people scrolling at all costs – rising hate and lies, stolen childhoods, polarisation, fragmentation of society and even violence.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. In fact, we’re already shifting the dial. Because together we are stronger than any corporation… and together we’re rising up to build a better digital world.
Our three priorities
Fix Our Feeds
Hate, disinformation, division... it's not a glitch in the system, it is the system. But tech giants can design their products to be safe. We just need to make them.
Stop Surveillance For Profit
Tech corporations spy on and profile us, then exploit our vulnerabilities to build vast fortunes. It's time to dismantle the spy machinery and reclaim our rights.
Break Open Big Tech
True tech progress serves people everywhere, not just a tiny group of CEOs. We're pushing to end Big Tech's stranglehold, so we can build a different future.
Our latest campaigns
YOUTH CAMPAIGN – applications closed.
Join us and be part of a European youth campaign to make social media safer, healthier and more supportive!
[Deadline extended to July 24th]
Campaign
FIX OUR FEEDS – EU Elections 2024
In a year of critical elections, we’re asking regulators to restore public trust in information and democracy by disabling toxic recommender systems
Latest news
What we have achieved so far
We won an EU-wide ban on the use of sensitive personal data for targeted advertising
Targeted advertising is at the dark heart of big tech’s twisted business model. It means corporations slicing and dicing the most intimate details of our lives to prey on our vulnerabilities, hijack our time and sell us things we don’t need or want.
So when the pundits said we had no hope of getting action on ads into the EU’s new tech law, a powerful movement of organisations, activists, and businesses refused to listen – instead working up watertight policy proposals and launching a massive people’s advocacy push for change.
The resulting ban on using sensitive data like race and religion to target people with ads is a vital first step towards the surveillance-free future we’re determined to build for everyone.
We got the EU to prohibit targeted advertising to kids
Keeping children safe from harm is society’s most basic job. But for years, a handful of tech CEOs have had free rein to spy and experiment on our kids – to sell them stuff, addict them to dangerous products and exploit their developing brains for profit.
Now a mega movement of parents, teachers, psychologists and concerned citizens is rising up to demand a safer, more enriching online world for children. And it’s winning results, like getting MEPs to vote for a ban on insidious spy-advertising to kids in Europe.
We’re just starting to see what the determination and moral clarity of this powerful coalition can achieve. Next stop? An internet that truly meets kids’ needs.
We teamed up with Nobel Laureates to write a 10-point plan to end disinformation
Sometimes people everywhere agree, and what’s needed is a powerful rallying call to connect, unite and galvanise action. So when Nobel prize-winners Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov said they wanted to issue a global call to rein in Big Tech and support journalism, our members leapt into action – teaming up to help develop, draft and promote a compelling manifesto for change.
Launched at the Nobel Peace Center in 2022, the actionable, 10-point plan has since been endorsed by over 294 Nobel laureates, organisations and individuals around the world. It’s a vision for a different future, and the best part is it’s totally doable.
Our members got the EU Commission to investigate Meta
Getting Europe to pass a strong tech law was a major victory for this movement. But the real work is making sure that law is enforced. That’s why the digital detectives at AI Forensics hit the ground running, with a deep-dive investigation revealing how Meta is letting pro-Russia propaganda ads flood the EU, in alleged breach of the Digital Services Act.
The European Commission has since launched formal proceedings against Meta, citing AI Forensics’ research. This is accountability in action!
Our members are pushing regulators to tackle gender-biased algorithms
Tech justice and women’s rights campaigners have united in a mighty coalition to tackle the insidious challenge of discriminatory algorithms, and made vital progress pressing authorities in the Netherlands and France to take up the cause.
PvBT member Global Witness, together with Bureau Clara Wichmann in the Netherlands and Fondation des Femmes in France, submitted four complaints to national regulators based on the suspicion that Meta’s algorithms to determine which users see certain job ads discriminate against women and breach equality and data protection laws.
The Dutch Institute of Human Rights has since held a hearing on the complaint while France’s Défenseur des Droits has written “investigation letters” to Meta demanding a response. This is the first time Meta has been questioned on the issue in the EU!
People vs Big Tech is a movement formed by more than 120 organisations
Sign the People's Declaration
Read the summary:
We, the people, demand technology that serves us, instead of putting us, our communities and our democracies at risk.
We call for an end to Big Tech’s destructive business model which has turned our own data into weapons against us.
We urge all those involved in scrutinising, passing, and enforcing legislation globally to stand on the side of the people you represent and take all necessary measures to rein in Big Tech’s abuses whilst defending people’s fundamental rights, critically - the right to free speech for all We urge all those involved in scrutinising, passing, and enforcing legislation globally to stand on the side of the people you represent and take all necessary measures to rein in Big Tech’s abuses whilst defending people’s fundamental rights, critically - the right to free speech for all.
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When someone you don’t know asks for your personal information, most of us know it is probably a scam - especially when they promise the world. With the romance between AI and Billionaire Tech Bros strengthening, how do we know it is not a scam? Which governments (if any) promise to keep our personal information and planet safe?
Head to the link in our bio to read all about it - brilliant reporting from Alice McCool.
"I absolutely belong to a tribe, or whatever we want to call it — a kind of pan-African AI movement...We don’t have to repeat what Silicon Valley does for our languages. And you don’t have to have a one-player-takes-it-all mentality."
https://restofworld.org/2023/3-minutes-with-asmelash-teka-hadgu/
A chilling read by Celia Ford: "As our mental security becomes less guaranteed, we’ll need to decide whether the convenience of controlling stuff with our minds is worth letting tech companies colonize our last truly private space." https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/400146/meta-brain-reading-neurotech-privacy
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/400146/meta-brain-reading-neurotech-privacy
🚨 New investigation by @globalwitness has found algorithms on X + TikTok have a far-right bias in Germany ahead of Sunday's election. Posts supportive of far-right AfD (who Musk has backed) dominated recommended partisan political content from accounts they had not followed.
Full paper here:
https://shorturl.at/6aqAE
“When companies are treated differently in a way that is discriminatory against them, then that should be highlighted to that company’s home government. So I think we will do that with President Trump,” said Joel Kaplan, new Meta global policy chief in Munich on Sunday.
https://fortune.com/2025/02/17/meta-mark-zuckerberg-donald-trump-eu-commission-brussels-munich-security-conference/
New newsletter alert! 💗👾 In a desperate race to become AI’s #valentine, heads of state and Tech Bros alike gathered in Paris this week for the #AI Action Summit. But what's the cost of their lust for this new technology? Read the full story and subscribe here:
https://blog.peoplevsbig.tech/ai-big-techs-valentine/
We're finding new ways of calling out Big Tech, outside of the Big Tech platforms.
Check us out distributing a zine version of our newsletter in the UK Parliament!
For the full story and to stay up to date - sign up to 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 - our free newsletter where we work with journalists and experts to uncover the 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗺𝘀 of Big Tech. #PvBT #BigTech #lgbtnews https://blog.peoplevsbig.tech/
But was this pinkwashing just pinkwashing? And what do Meta’s policy changes mean for LGBTQ+ people outside of the US? 🌈
Read the full piece here: https://blog.peoplevsbig.tech/the-people-vs-homophobia/
And don't forget to sign up to 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 so you can stop relying on pesky algorithms to keep up to speed on the Big Harms of Big Tech.
We haven't been very active on here because our social media manager has been writing the 𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲.
Shivani Dave (that's me!) looks at Big Tech's relationship with LGBTQ+ people before and after the updated Meta Community Standards.
They say "Meta has humble and misogynistic roots... As the company grew Meta at least 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 to care about LGBTQ+ rights”.
https://blog.peoplevsbig.tech/the-people-vs-homophobia/
Am I a conspiracy theorist? Alice McCool reports on the allegations against M*ta as users struggled to access Democrat hashtags + unfollow Trump’s account – and how it's all making it harder to distinguish reality from conspiracy 😵
Full story here https://blog.peoplevsbig.tech/am-i-a-conspiracy-theorist/
Read all about it and stop relying on algorithms to show you what matters. Sign up to The People - our newsletter where we work with campaigners and journalists to uncover the harms of Big Tech.
Am I a conspiracy theorist? In our latest newsletter, Alice McCool explores the feelings many of us have been experiencing since the inauguration.
Starting with President Trump's executive order, 'restoring freedom of speech and federal censorship' and ending with a compelling case as to why regulating Big Tech is needed now to maintain the public's trust.
https://blog.peoplevsbig.tech/am-i-a-conspiracy-theorist/
https://blog.peoplevsbig.tech/am-i-a-conspiracy-theorist/
Ctrl+Alt+Reclaim is a new movement of young people from across Europe fighting to reclaim our digital future from billionaires’ pockets.
🎆 At the end of last year, Adele Walton and 16 other young people went to the EU Parliament to launch their movement.
🤝 Join them in tackling the Tech Bros: https://ctrl-alt-reclaim.github.io/
When we asked Meta about these complaints, the company said “We’re aware of an error affecting hashtags across the political spectrum and we are working quickly to resolve it.”
But some users are claiming that the only way to prevent their Facebook accounts from following the 47th President of the United States and his Vice President is by blocking these pages entirely.
A Meta representative posted the Threads that the official POTUS account transfers from one President to the next.
On Facebook, users are claiming their accounts have automatically followed the pages of President Donald Trump and Vice President Vance despite never previously interacting with them.
Meta is reportedly blocking #Democrat and #DNC on Instagram.
When searching for these hashtags, some users are seeing a message that reads "We have hidden these results". But these users say they are still able to see posts when searching for #Republican or #GOP.
They spoke to MEPs about what they want:
⛔ a ban on the addictive design that makes it impossible to stop scrolling
🧐 an end to monopolies on the platforms we now depend on
👁️🗨️ laws that protect our personal data and keep our private lives private
Gen Z and Gen Alpha have spent their whole lives surrounded by social media. It's time to 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯 to what they have to say about it:
https://blog.peoplevsbig.tech/ctrl-alt-reclaim/
"Together we’re rising up to build
a better digital world.''