Digital Resistance and Self-Management In Times of the Broligarchy

Many of the digital applications we use in our daily life but also a large part of our digital infrastructure as well as digital technologies used in public administrations and private companies are controlled by a small number of billionaires who use their extreme wealth to shape the world we live in according to their libertarian and antidemocratic world views. Promoting their technologies, in particular artificial intelligence, as perfect one-click solutions for everything, they are in reality contributing to global warming with their water- and energy-consuming data centres, exploiting platform workers with bad paid and mentally harmful work, and using their wealth to influence politics and promote authoritarian political parties.

This session aims to analyse and discuss forms of resistance against the power of Big Tech and possibilities of self-management in times when this power seems overwhelming. How do organisations and local communities organise their digital infrastructure and application as well as the data they use and create to get less dependent from Big Tech? Which kind of organisations are best placed to create digital solutions that break new ground, not only in terms of their organisational structure but also in terms of the values and objectives they want to achieve? What are weak points of Big Tech that can be used to undermine their power?