Big Tech and Lost Promises

The tech giants once heralded the internet as ushering in a new era of democracy, empowerment and human potential. Now it seems it is Big Tech itself that is taking over. So powerful they have influence over much of our lives and some argue beyond the reach of governments. Meanwhile, the internet has become a vehicle for tribal opposition that can be manipulated by vested interests, malevolent states and corporations.

Was the promise of a democratic flowering of creative potential always illusory - a marketing device for those in control of the technology? Was it inevitable that powerful organisations would seek to influence opinion and thereby control the space? Or can we find a way to rejuvenate the lost, creative, promise of the internet?

Oxford fellow Anders Sandberg, author of Media Freedom Damian Tambini, CEO of thinktank Demos Polly Mackenzie and Labour MP Thangam Debbonaire lock horns over the nightmare and dreams coming true with Big Tech.