27 Jan 2025 Big Tech undermine free speech and democracy

The right to freedom of expression alone is not enough to protect democratic communication and public debate, which are the cornerstones of society. This right, while essential, does not create avenues to address power imbalances in how people communicate and shape public opinion.

A tech mogul and an asylum seeker trying to enter the US have the same right to freedom of expression. But in practice their voices have very different levels of public influence, which ultimately undermines the asylum seeker’s ability to have their concerns shape public policy.

This is why we need a separate right to communicate – or a set of communication rights – that would tackle communication injustice to protect democracy and human rights. And we need it now more than ever before.

Nowhere was this more evident than at U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration last week.

That day, the leaders of the world’s major tech companies, from Amazon to Meta to X to Alphabet, sat in the U.S. Capitol next to Trump family members and in front of his cabinet nominees. They have direct control over much of our personal data, can manipulate the information we consume, and influence how we communicate through their obscure algorithms. Their alignment with the political project of the U.S. far-right was crystal clear.

Any illusion of Big Tech as a force for democratization and genuine citizen participation died that day. It is now evident that these companies not only support an agenda that denies climate change, is rooted in white supremacy, and seeks to undermine women’s rights, but that their only true motivation is money. Profits over the public good, even if the – our – world burns to the ground.

How can we respond?

• First, now that the interests of Big Tech are clear for everyone to see, we must invite more people and movements to join the fight for democratic tech and rights-based communication.
• Second, we must continue to articulate an alternative vision, as WACC and its civil society allies have been doing in 2024 and 2025 in relation to the Global Digital Compact and the 20-year review of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS+20). This vision must be rooted in the notion of communication and information as human rights – not as merchandise – and must work to integrate the voices and knowledge of the millions of people who are still being silenced today.
• And third, we need new allies. As civil society and social movements, we simply do not have the tools and power to turn the alternative vision we are developing into reality. We need the backing and support of states, or blocks of states like the EU or African Union, to establish viable alternative technology and media ecosystems that truly uphold our rights and are not motivated by profit.

Photo: Shutterstock AI