10 signatures reached
To: Keir Starmer
Break Big Tech: Dismantle the root cause of online harms
End the harmful surveillance business model
We need to stop Big Tech companies like X, Facebook and Instagram from harvesting our data so that they can target us with adverts and keep pushing content that will keep us online. We need to have more control over our data and the algorithms that push content to us. And we should be able to take our data and followers when we leave platforms.
We need to stop Big Tech companies like X, Facebook and Instagram from harvesting our data so that they can target us with adverts and keep pushing content that will keep us online. We need to have more control over our data and the algorithms that push content to us. And we should be able to take our data and followers when we leave platforms.
The Government needs to:
- Uphold data protection law to stop the intrusive, targeted ads that fuel the attention economy and feed online hate.
- Compel social media companies to be transparent about the algorithms that determine which content we see and give users the ability to control how they work.
- Compel social media companies to let us take our followers and data with us if we want to leave their platforms.
Social media platforms don’t need to be harmful for children or adults. We don’t need to ban them, we need to ban the toxic business model that fuels hate and extremism.
Why is this important?
Platforms like X, Facebook and Instagram harvest our personal data so that they can target us with ads. Their platforms are designed to keep us online, pushing out content that will keep us engaged. Their power to shape and control what we see online is not only harming children and adults but democracy itself. But we often feel locked in, not wanting to leave the spaces where we still have friends, family and followers.
The Government says it’s holding Big Tech to account over online harms but it’s doing nothing to challenge the surveillance capitalism that underpins these companies' business models.
Proposals to age gate the Internet or ban under 16s from social media are treating the symptoms not the cause. They may restrict some children’s social media use, but they risk pushing children into unregulated spaces and don’t change the system that created the problems in the first place.
And for adults it means all of us having to provide personal data for digital identity check to access lawful speech. This just feeds more personal data into the machine that is causing harms.
To tackle online harms, we must reform the surveillance-driven business model at the heart of Big Tech.
Proposals to age gate the Internet or ban under 16s from social media are treating the symptoms not the cause. They may restrict some children’s social media use, but they risk pushing children into unregulated spaces and don’t change the system that created the problems in the first place.
And for adults it means all of us having to provide personal data for digital identity check to access lawful speech. This just feeds more personal data into the machine that is causing harms.
To tackle online harms, we must reform the surveillance-driven business model at the heart of Big Tech.
