Traditional governments find themselves increasingly outmatched by technology tycoons and autocratic strongmen: geopolitical predators who shape the world through brute force, deception, and disruption. Across the continent, people are working on initiatives for citizens to take back control, imagining new ways of living together by reflecting on the concepts of democracy and citizenship. If we want our digital world to be an extension of the world we would like to live in, we need to design digital realms that reflect those concepts.
In this session, we bring some European initiatives – that are working on alternatives – together. Some which directly work on technological alternatives, some on the issue of inclusivity, some which play with existing code. On stage, we will explore how they challenge Big Tech in their own way.