We are a growing movement fighting for a better 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 Actions
STAND UP, URSULA
Fight for Europe - not for Trump and Big Tech
People vs Big Tech, WeMove Europe, Avaaz, and European Digital Rights (EDRi) are calling on President von der Leyen to enforce EU law and break up Google - before Europe becomes a colony of Big Tech and Trumpism.
Add your name now: demand the EU stand up to Trump and Big Tech - starting with breaking up Google.
Bath bombs vs Big Tech
We teamed up with high street brand Lush to create a limited edition bath bomb and raise vital funds for young activists fighting to hold Big Tech to account. “The Cloud” was sold in online shops across the world, from Japan to Italy, bringing in over £50,000 to support the burgeoning youth movement demanding a better tech future.
#FixOurFeeds
After polling showed Europeans overwhelmingly back the demand to #FixOurFeeds by switching off toxic recommender systems, our members descended on Brussels to make sure Commissioner Thierry Breton got the memo, setting up a pop-up snack stall right outside his office and handing out specially branded chocolate to staff and passersby. Each bar of FixFEED chocolate came with a receipt listing social media harms — the real cost of Big Tech’s poisoned business model — underscoring our demand to end the behavioural profiling that warps our online world.
A playlist for Breton
Thierry Breton, the man formerly in charge of EU digital strategy, has a quirk: he likes to make policy announcements through playlists. So when we wanted to send him an urgent plea ahead of the European elections, we turned the tables, putting together a special Spotify playlist just for him that set out our demands for defending democracy through song titles. Then groups across Europe coordinated to flood his social media feeds with the link.
Occupy Meta
As India prepared to go to the polls, activists and researchers in the Indian diaspora issued an urgent warning over Meta’s failures to safeguard the elections. People vs Big Tech member groups rallied in support, signing an urgent letter with a 10-point plan for Mark Zuckerberg and running research exposing how Meta was helping far-right networks reach millions of voters. Meanwhile, Foundation the London Story staged an audacious action outside Meta’s London HQ, sealing it off as a “crime scene against democracy”.
Standing with whistleblowers
When Facebook moved to silence black South African whistleblower Daniel Motaung by requesting a gagging order to stop him speaking to the media, they met the full force of this incredible movement. Over 80 organisations, lawyers and citizens signed an open letter, featured in TIME magazine, calling out their shameful and racist attempt to block the truth and stop justice being done, prompting the tech giant to quickly backtrack.
Safe by Default
We joined forces with an amazing team of researchers, designers, software engineers and policy experts across the world to reimagine what social media could look like if it was designed in the interests of people and planet instead of corporate profits. The result is a persuasive and tangible vision for a different kind of social media, where people get to see what they really want in their feeds, rather than the outputs of predatory and addictive design features.
Speaking to the EU parliament
Ahead of the European elections, campaigners and experts joined a special event in the EU parliament to discuss how to protect democracy from viral disinformation and hate speech. Speakers from across the People vs Big Tech movement gave compelling testimony on how Big Tech’s products are currently designed to engage, enrage and addict us – and clear recommendations for regulators on getting us out of this toxic mess.
Photo Credit: Alexander Hohlfeld
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 155 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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@greenpeace @edri @wemoveeurope @lobbycontrol @rebalance_now @Balancedeconomy
That’s why we took over the Brussels skyline as Heads of State arrived to discuss the EU’s competitiveness. The choice is clear: fight for people, not Trump’s billionaires. #TimeToResist
Europe won’t reduce its dependence on US Big Tech by weakening the very rules designed to hold tech giants accountable. Digital sovereignty requires public interest safeguards, not deregulation.
Merz and Macron talk a big game about Europe’s digital sovereignty. But last Friday showed how fragile that vision is when European access to a major US AI model was switched off overnight. A killswitch scenario is no longer hypothetical.
Merz and Macron talk about Europe’s digital sovereignty, but weakening rules on Big Tech won’t deliver it. As EU leaders met in Brussels, we joined allies across Europe to send a clear message: stand with people, not Trump’s billionaires. Share if you agree. #TimeToResist
In Brussels last night, Ava Lee, Executive Director of People vs Big Tech, urged European leaders to take action and stand up for citizens.
@PeopleVsBigTech @greenpeace @edri @wemoveeurope @lobbycontrol @rebalance_now @Balancedeconomy
✍️ Tell EU decision-makers: don't water down Big Tech rules. Protect people, not billionaires. https://action.wemove.eu/sign/2026-01-omnibus-tech-petition-EN/
As leaders meet in Brussels today, pressure is mounting to roll back hard-won digital laws.
Europe must not weaken its digital rulebook to satisfy the interests of powerful tech billionaires. This is the moment to defend democracy, competition, and digital sovereignty.
#TimeToResist #PeopleOverProfit #DigitalSovereignty
🚨 BREAKING: Overnight in Brussels
We sent a clear message to EU leaders:
📣”Fight for us, not for Trump's billionaires.”
Starmer said that this is about behavioural change – that is crucial. The social media companies have built addiction machines, and we hope these measures can, in time, lead to regulations that make the internet safer for children, and better for everyone.
A social media ban for under-16s should be seen as an emergency measure to protect children now. Longer term, the government needs to tackle what we’ve seen on social media in recent years - a race to the bottom that leaves users addicted and polarised.
Under the Online Safety Act, platforms are required to protect minors from content promoting suicide, self-harm and eating disorders. Our findings raise serious questions about TikTok’s compliance with this law and we are calling on Ofcom to investigate.
Accounts that searched for ’skinny’ were immediately shown videos promoting extreme thinness. When they searched for a hashtag associated with anorexia, they were shown numerous posts glorifying eating disorders.
Accounts that searched for hashtags relating to sadness and depression were shown videos romanticising suicide. When they searched for terms associated with self harm, they were served content that actively promoted cutting.
We created test accounts registered as 13-year-olds and enabled TikTok’s ‘restricted mode’, which the platform markets to parents as a way of limiting exposure to inappropriate content.
All the accounts were rapidly exposed to content promoting eating disorders, self-harm and romanticising suicide.
⚠️ Trigger warning: self-harm, suicide, eating disorders
The UK’s social media ban for minors signals a sea change in the government’s approach to Big Tech. Our investigation into TikTok's parental controls shows exactly why stronger action is needed.
If you’re attending CPDP in Brussels this week, join us Wednesday for a screening of Molly vs the Machines followed by a discussion on children’s online safety, platform power, and algorithmic accountability.
The film explores how social media platforms shape young people’s online experiences. This is the first screening in Belgium, with director Marc Silver joining the panel.
🗓 Wed 20 May, 16:00–18:45
📍 CPDP Cinema, Maison de la Poste, Brussels
https://www.cpdpconferences.org/culture-club/discussion-over-molly-vs-the-machines
No privileged US access to Europe’s tech law oversight.
We call on the European Commission to halt plans for a new “dialogue” with the US that could weaken enforcement of EU tech laws.
"Together we’re rising up to build
a better digital world.''