Wouter Tebbens ⁂Mar 10

Just to not forget the economic extraction that we're suffering from BigTech. Only the cloud services business in Europe extracts some 264B €, as calculated in the Asterès Report.

That generates an estimated 2 million jobs in the US instead of generating them in our local communities.

That's one of the costs of NOT having #DigitalAutonomy and #TechnologicalSovereignty

Here in English: https://www.cigref.fr/wp/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/TECHNOLOGICAL-DEPENDENCE-ON-AMERICAN-SOFTWARE-AND-CLOUD-SERVICES-AN-ASSESSMENT-OF-THE-ECONOMIC-CONSEQUENCES.pdf

cc @DigitalCoup #BigTech #extraction

Show threadWouter Tebbens ⁂Mar 10

Now, of course a #BuyEurope campaign may help mobilise some to Europe, but how do we avoid growing European #BigTech in the process?

I think the answer lies in combining #commons with #cooperativism and free/libre open source as a precondition. These three traditions bring thousands of years, centuries and decades of experience to the table respectively, and bringing them together is the sweetspot, the win-win-win, for people, planet and collective profit.

@DigitalCoup @andreas @ela

Show threadDouweMar 10

@Wtebbens

I see some issues with this frame: US jobs are also sustaining families and communities there. People earning a living is a good thing, and falling for us/them dichotomies is pushing a protectionist agenda.

Let's see how workers can be freed from alienating work aiding big tech/money everywhere on the globe!

@DigitalCoup @andreas @ela

Show threadWouter Tebbens ⁂
@douwe absolutely, but in the US many communities and networks are also working on this transition. Just one example are the fine folks of #ResistTechMonopolies @rtm in Seattle. They are a group of former bigtech workers organising knowledge sharing, #DiscoTech to discover the ethical tech alternatives and participating in the @coopcloud federation. They are in the process to set up a multistakeholder cooperative, combining these three traditions. And of course our friends at @mayfirst who need no introduction here.
Mar 10 at 10:58amWeb
Show threadWouter Tebbens ⁂Mar 10
Of course the wealth extraction is "just" one thing, there are also the pain inflicted by algorithmic bias and discrimination, alignment of bigtech with authoritarian politics, neocolonialism, sustaining patriarchy and destruction of our planet and ecosystems, or the weaponisation of tech against populations in many places. And I didn't even mention #privacy and surveillance. @douwe @rtm @coopcloud @mayfirst @DigitalCoup
Show threadWouter Tebbens ⁂Mar 10

A few months ago I wrote this piece about how #BigTech is dismantling our democratic foundations:
https://freeknowledge.eu/how-bigtech-dismantles-democratic-foundations

@douwe @rtm @coopcloud @mayfirst @DigitalCoup

How BigTech Dismantles Democratic Foundations

Free Knowledge Institute
Show threadRegMar 10

@Wtebbens

The simplest solution would be to impose a tax on all proprietary operating systems to encourage people and businesses to adopt FOSS solutions over US big tech, but that would contradict the ambitions of European govts seeking to impose identity verification on their citizens.

@douwe @rtm @coopcloud @mayfirst @DigitalCoup