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Publication

Defund Big Tech, Refund Community: Anti-Trust is Not Enough, Another Tech is Possible

Barendregt, W., Becker, C., Cheon, E., Clement, A., Reynolds-Cuéllar, P., Schuler, D., & Suchman, L. (2021). Defund Big Tech, Refund Community. Tech Otherwise. https://doi.org/10.21428/93b2c832.e0100a3f

Abstract

In this report, we dive into the history of public investment in technologies at the foundation of Big Tech, and the imbalances between these investments and the returns to the public sector. We delve into the problematic labor and user relations underlining the value-creation machine Big Tech has assembled, and the perverse social and environmental costs of these socio-technical systems. We set out arguments for why Big Tech should be defunded, and offer potential actions Big Tech companies, governments and policymakers, tech workers, researchers, civil society organizations, social movements and individual citizens could take to redirect resources. We end by offering prospects for what refunding community could look like, how another tech is possible.   

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