@Techmeme@techhub.socialA look at EU efforts to cut reliance on US tech; study: Amazon, Microsoft, and Google hold ~70% of EU cloud and US vendors get 80% of enterprise software spend (Politico)
https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-big-tech-donald-trump-alexan…
@aral@mastodon.ar.alIf I have one more fucking techbro explain to me that actually, I’m the problem for criticising Big Tech (and, yes, fucking Linux distributions and components tied to trillion-dollar corporations is also Big Tech) I am going to scream.
(Actually, I’m just going to block and move on and not give you another thought this lifetime. And maybe also scream.)
@Techmeme@techhub.socialA look at the fundamental questions facing OpenAI: its models have a very large user base but very narrow engagement, incumbents are matching its tech, and more (Benedict Evans)
https://www.ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2026/2/19/how-will-openai-compete-nkg2x
@kubikpixel@chaos.socialDie gefährlichsten Firmen der Welt - Big Tech
Überwachung, Datenhandel, Manipulation - welche Macht haben globale Digitalkonzerne? Wie verändern Daten und Algorithmen Wirtschaft, Politik und Gesellschaft?
📺 https://www.zdf.de/dokus/zdfinfo-die-gefaehrl…
@emilis@social.linux.pizzaLet's stop calling them "big tech" and start calling them "tech oligarchs".
"Big tech" is too ambiguous. E.g. Linux could be called "big tech" too.
Also the problematic aspect is immediately revealed: the individuals at the top, their corruption and misuse of the power.
@heiseonline@social.heise.deVom AI-Hype zur AI-Angst: Warum Tech-Aktien 2026 so stark verlieren
Backlash: Big-Tech-Aktien notieren seit Jahresbeginn im Minus. Die Wall Street ist über das Disruptionspotenzial besorgt.
https://www.…
@vosje62@mastodon.nl
@johnleonard@mastodon.socialInvestigators have discovered that the European Commission bowed to the demands of Big Tech lobbyists that the environmental impact of individual datacentres be kept out of the public eye.
https://www.…
@villavelius@mastodon.onlineBig Tech is dancing to the beat of algorithms.
@servelan@newsie.socialBig tech is failing domestic abuse victim-survivors
https://www.crikey.com.au/2026/02/19/big-tech-domestic-abuse-victim-survivors/
@paul@social.van.buu.re
@ruth_mottram@fediscience.orgThis whole thread is such a joy to read, about migrating away from big tech and taking back control of a digital life. #TechSovereignty #TechEmpowerment
#DanmarkSkifter
@kurtsh@mastodon.social
@metacurity@infosec.exchangeExclusive: Big Tech companies band together to fight global scams
https://www.axios.com/2026/03/16/tech-companies-scam-accord-google-meta-amazon
@Dragofix@veganism.socialEurope should regulate Big Tech instead of banning kids from social media, Estonia says https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-should-stand-up-to-big-tech-instead-of-imposing-social-media-bans-estonia-says/
@cdarwin@c.imImani Thompson, along with the New York City-based tech organizing coalition "Cypurr Collective",
is the host of "Break Up With Google".
Its purpose is to help attenders understand how to mitigate their vulnerability to surveillance through major tech services.
But it’s important for people to have fun while they do it, Thompson said
– hence the DJs playing until the wee hours of the morning.
“Learning to script a little at your local bar …
@Techmeme@techhub.socialAnalysis: the top US tech companies spent $109M on DC lobbying in 2025, topping $100M for the first time; Meta spent $26.29M, Amazon $17.78M, and Google $13.1M (Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-…
@ErikJonker@mastodon.social"Van het ministerie mag big tech de gesprekken over digitale autonomie zelf leiden"
https://www.
@usul@piaille.fr« J’ai décidé de faire mes adieux Š Gmail » : ces initiatives pour se passer des Big Tech américaines
https://www.lemonde.fr/pixels/article/2026/03/14/j-ai-decide-de-faire-mes…
@heiseonline@social.heise.de
@fgraver@hcommons.socialThe Guardian view on changes to copyright laws: authors should be protected over big tech
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/mar/13/the-guardian-view-on…
@felwert@fedihum.org @kubikpixel@chaos.social«Studie—Big Techs KI-Klimaversprechen entpuppen sich als leeres Greenwashing:
Nur 26 Prozent der KI-Versprechen zum Klimaschutz verweisen auf Fachstudien; 36 Prozent kommen ganz ohne Belege aus, so die deutsche NGO Beyond Fossil Fuels»
Dies erinnert mich sicherlich nicht um sonst an die Crypto-Currency Marketing-Verspreche(r)n. Weshalb aber plapern so gut wie alle Medien deren Marketing blind hinterher?
🧐
@thomasfuchs@hachyderm.ioNo no, instead of regulating social media and requiring them to remove lies, violence and bullshit we’d rather have adults give up their privacy and anonymity instead, so big tech gets even more data.
While children are pushed to much worse corners of the Internet.
People who demand ID laws are child abusers.
@aral@mastodon.ar.alRE: https://infosec.exchange/@SecureOwl/116420643084042248
I guess when I was telling people that Big Tech (aka People Farmers) never delete your data but just set a deleted=true flag, I was being overly generous.
It’s amazing given how much insig…
@villavelius@mastodon.online"Europe pretends to be weak when it comes to big American and international corporations," but that's a "pretense," Kallas said. She called on the EU to "actually take this power and start regulating the big American corporations."
https://www.
@Techmeme@techhub.socialFiling: Anthropic spent $1.6M and OpenAI $1M on lobbying in Q1, vs. $360K and $560K in Q1 2025, respectively; Meta topped Big Tech lobbying spending with $7.1M (Ashley Gold/Axios)
https://www.axios.com/2026/04/21/anthropic-outspends-openai-biggest-lobbyin…
@digitalnaiv@mastodon.socialBig Tech ist Meister der Steuervermeidung. Die Politik reagiert mit einem „Plattform-Soli“. Doch laut Michael Kolain greift die Idee zu kurz: Sonderabgaben haben enge verfassungsrechtliche Grenzen – und selbst wenn sie kommen, bleibt die eigentliche Frage ungelöst: Wie besteuert man digitale Gewinne wirklich dort, wo sie entstehen?
@fanf@mendeddrum.orgalec steele learns about friction welding https://youtu.be/AIJL4ejtvLo
i was vaguely aware that TWI exists but i didn’t know what high-tech welding research entailed
it’s a big step up from typical youtube metalwork, wow
@der_raddler@dresden.networkGruselig! 😬
Hörsaal - Deutschlandfunk Nova: Digital-Oligarchie - Der Rechtsruck der Big-Tech-Bosse
Webseite der Episode: https://www.deutschlandfunknova.de/beitrag/digital-oligarchie-der-rechtsruck-der-big-tech-bosse
Medi…
@chpietsch@fedifreu.deWhat @… forgot to mention is that you can (and should) attend her talk at #CablesOfResistance today at 11 am:
Cables of Resistance - Bewegungskonferenz gegen Big Tech: The AI/Energy/Fascism Nexus: An Ana…
@haayman@todon.nlDit is heel goed nieuws, want het zet de vlucht van Big Tech in een hogere versnelling. Ik verwacht dat er veel meer gedaan gaat worden om alternatieven te ontwikkelen
https://waag.social/@marleenstikker/116244040976773012
@crell@phpc.socialThis is the most depressing thing I've read in a long time.
https://shumer.dev/something-big-is-happening
Of particular note:
"The people building this technology are simultaneously more excited and more frightened than anyone else on the planet. They believe it…
@Techmeme@techhub.socialA look at "tokenmaxxing", a status game where employees at a number of companies compete on leaderboards to show how much AI they're using (Kevin Roose/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/20/technol
@hynek@mastodon.socialIt’s rare that I get excited about a big tech acquisition but Motion VFX are very well regarded in the Final Cut Pro scene (I own a few plugins myself) for high quality work but they’ve been clearly struggling financially lately, as shown by their switch to subscriptions-only. Hope they’ll be able to continue their work and Apple’s offer just got way more interesting.
@samvarma@fosstodon.orgDon't know who this guy is, but I would love someone else's take on what he is saying here. I can't decide if this is utterly apocalyptic, or a guy who is just up to his eyeballs in the Kool-Aid.
Context: was sent to me by a financial advisor friend
https://shumer.dev/something-big-is-ha
@Mediagazer@mstdn.socialAn independent journalist argues against using AI to help journalists write, saying "the process is the purpose" even if you don't always enjoy it (Marisa Kabas/The Handbasket)
https://www.thehandbasket.co/p/refusing-to-accept-big-t…
@Techmeme@techhub.socialAnthropic started requiring government-issued photo IDs and selfies from some users to prevent access from US adversaries like China, Russia, and North Korea (Juro Osawa/The Information)
https://www.theinformation.com/articles/anthropics-id-verifi…
@cdarwin@c.imLibrary workers can better align technology use and instruction in library settings with library values,
through championing the refusal of technologies that conflict with values like privacy and intellectual freedom.
Drawing on experiences with individual patron instruction, class design, and passive programming, the author shares practical steps for helping patrons to understand and fight back against exploitation by digital technologies.
Rejecting the myth that any te…
@lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nzI think this should be off-putting for any self-respecting NZer. The parties should also, perhaps, lose popular support due to their willingness to accept the money. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/in-depth/589237
@gwire@mastodon.socialIt's a shame that the press release for quantum computer investment has to be wrapped in "AI". Where the "race" has been reframed as the consumption, rather than production, of technologies.
In many ways quantum tech matches the UK's traditional strengths - big expensive important research with (let's face it) extremely vague plans for commercialisation.
@ErikJonker@mastodon.socialIs this the disturbed view of AI / BigTech optimists, or does he have a point?
"Something Big Is Happening"
#ai
@privacity@social.linux.pizzaProtezione dei minori online, il nodo che il dibattito ignora
Verifica dell’etŠ, potere delle piattaforme e i limiti di una critica che si ferma alla sorveglianza. L'UE prova a suggerire delle soluzioni per una tutela necessaria dentro un web dominato dagli interessi delle Big Tech.
https://…
@Techmeme@techhub.socialTim Cook had an extraordinary run and impeccable timing in stepping down, with Apple in a better place than it has ever been as AI becomes its next big test (Ben Thompson/Stratechery)
https://stratechery.com/2026/tim-cooks-impeccable-timing/
@Sustainable2050@mastodon.energyBy 2027, 2.5 million French civil servants will stop using video conference tools from U.S. providers — including Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Webex and GoTo Meeting — and switch to Visio, a homegrown service.
https://apnews.com/article/europe-digital…
@paul@social.van.buu.reFTM heeft een nuttig artikel (nuttig als in: lastig, anti-autoritair) over BZK en NLdigital.
"BZK wees branchevereniging NLdigital aan als ‘poortwachter’ voor het organiseren van de gesprekken van het aanjaagteam Cloud. En die keuze is opmerkelijk. Anders dan de naam doet vermoeden, maakt de belangenbehartiger met ruim 500 leden zich namelijk ook hard voor Amerikaanse belangen van leden als Microsoft, Google, Amazon, IBM en Oracle.”
@marcel@waldvogel.family“Big Tech’s AI hype is distracting users from the rapid and dangerous expansion of giant, energy and water-intensive data centres […].
There is simply no evidence that AI will help the climate more than it will harm it.
Rather than relying on credible and substantiated data, Big Tech companies are writing themselves a blank cheque to pollute on the empty promise of future salvation. We cannot bet the climate on these baseless claims.”
@bart@toot.reI'm not sure the US administration understands the damage it has done to Big Tech. Europe is shifting to open source
#us #bigtech #europe #opensource
@heiseonline@social.heise.de @kubikpixel@chaos.social«Weg von Google und Paypal — EU will digital unabhängiger werden:
Die gängigen digitalen Dienstleistungen kommen in der Regel von US-amerikanischen Big-Tech-Unternehmen wie Alphabet oder Meta. Unter Trump ist das ein Problem»
Ich wohne nicht in der EU und deswegen wird dies wahrscheinlich in meiner Umgebung nicht so schnell von den US-Konzerne lösen. BigTechs haben auch Standorte in der CH.
🔊
@thomasfuchs@hachyderm.ioWhat’s in it for people who work for the big tech companies who enable one morally bankrupt thing after another for decades on end just to make the billionaire owners richer?
Is that truly fulfilling work?
@Techmeme@techhub.socialArizona sues Kalshi for allegedly operating an illegal gambling business and unlawfully facilitating betting on elections; Kalshi faces a similar suit in Nevada (Anna Washenko/Engadget)
https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/arizona-
@cdarwin@c.imA healthy (in body and mind),
active, frugal, sociable, mostly offline citizen
who is highly educated and informed, in full control of their data, avoiding Big Tech’s platforms and algorithms,
with a positive self-esteem and self-image,
is probably persona non grata for the tech billionaires.
But a small, insignificant nuisance, like a fly
– they don’t care about ONE.
But imagine having thousands,
then hundreds of thousands,
then millio…
@digitalnaiv@mastodon.socialBig Tech verkauft uns Bequemlichkeit – und kauft sich politische Macht. Die Recherche von WECHANGE zeigt: Datenhandel, Sucht-Design und Empörungsalgorithmen sind kein Kollateralschaden, sondern Geschäftsmodell. Die Liaison mit Trump ist kein Zufall, sondern Kalkül.
https://wechange.coop/big-tech/
@chpietsch@fedifreu.deThe audience at Cables of Resistance (the movement conference against Big Tech) just celebrated this talk by Simone Robutti from the Tech Workers Coalition:
Their basic approach is to reverse-engineer workforce apps (with cooperation from workers) to find out if they send surveillance (or other illegal data) to the companies. If they find evidence, they try to push data protection authorities to have a look at those companies' serve…
@kubikpixel@chaos.socialDigital-Oligarchie - Der Rechtsruck der Big-Tech-Bosse
Big-Tech-Bosse vertreten verstärkt rechte Ideen und nehmen vermehrt politischen Einfluss. In ihren ideologischen Konzepten und in der aktuellen US-Politik macht der Politikwissenschaftler Christopher Coenen faschistische Tendenzen aus.
📻 https:…
@Techmeme@techhub.socialGoogle, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Meta, Amazon, OpenAI, Adobe, and Match sign a voluntary pledge to share threat intelligence on scammers abusing their services (Sam Sabin/Axios)
https://www.axios.com/2026/03/16/tech-companies-scam-accord-google-meta-amazon…
@metacurity@infosec.exchangeA spate of big developments emerged yesterday regarding Anthropic, its status as a "supply chain threat," and what that means for organizations that have deployed the company's tech as well as what it means for the company.
Don't miss today's Metacurity for a précis on these critical developments and other top infosec news you should know, including
--FBI warns of phishing campaigns impersonating city and county officials,
--TX governor warns health ag…
@thomasfuchs@hachyderm.ioPlease note I don’t mean this in a snarky “yet you work under capitalism lol” way.
I specifically mean big tech (like Microsoft, Google or Meta) and staying there for years without even looking for another job.
You can make choices for your life.
@cdarwin@c.imTech billionaires are leveraging tens of millions of dollars
to influence California politics
in a marked uptick from their previous participation in affairs at the state capitol.
Behemoths such as #Google and #Meta are getting involved in campaigns for November’s elections,
as are venture capitalist…
@Techmeme@techhub.socialApple, whose capital expenditure is just a fraction of its peers, is the only Big Tech company that saw capex decline YoY in Q4, decreasing 19% to $2.37B (Rani Molla/Sherwood News)
https://sherwood.news/tech/apple-is-the-only-big-tech-company-…
@digitalnaiv@mastodon.social📢 Trump fordert, dass Big Tech eigene Kraftwerke für KI-Rechenzentren baut – angeblich, um Verbraucher vor steigenden Stromkosten zu schützen. Doch die Mehrheit dieser Anlagen soll mit Erdgas laufen, obwohl sich Konzerne zu sauberer Energie verpflichtet haben. 🇺🇸 Autor: Business Insider Deutschland
#Energiepolitik
@cdarwin@c.im @paul@social.van.buu.reBig Tech Should Pay for What It Has Done to Us
"The truth is, it’s hard for profit-motivated companies to decide to make less money. So we can raise the cost of bad behavior. It worked with smoking. You can still smoke, but it could cost $15 a pack and you often can’t find a place where it’s allowed these days."
@aral@mastodon.ar.al“The founder of OpenClaw, vibe coder Peter Steinberger, was also hired by a Big Tech firm.”
If there’s one thing that gives me comfort in this world, it’s knowing I will never be called “vibe coder”.
https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/03/meta-acquire…
@heiseonline@social.heise.deheise | Tschüss, Big Tech: Acht sichere E-Mail-Alternativen aus Europa im Vergleich
Gmail, iCloud, Outlook – die größten E-Mail-Anbieter sitzen in den USA. Mit diesen europäischen Alternativen erklären Sie Ihre digitale Unabhängigkeit.
@cdarwin@c.imOver the past year, tech industry lobby groups have used their lavish budgets to aggressively push for the deregulation of the EU’s digital rulebook.
The intensity of this policy battle is also reflected in the fact that Big Tech companies have on average more than one lobby meeting per day with EU Commission officials.
This lobbying offensive appears to be paying off.
Recently, a string of policy-makers have called for a pause of the Artificial Intelligence Act,
a…
@Techmeme@techhub.socialA look at the US tech industry's effort to influence Californian politics: fighting the 5% billionaire tax, super PACs, and seeking a new tech-friendly governor (Dara Kerr/The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/feb/15/californ…
@thomasfuchs@hachyderm.ioI'm actually believing this, the main reason "AI" hype has become this big is tech people being impressed by it "writing code".
Then they were wrongly extrapolating capabilities to other fields (because "programming is super hard, harder than any other vocation, therefore 'AI' can do anything!!!1!"). To them, it clearly appears be god because they see themselves as gods—because they can write quicksort and linked lists or something.
Meanwhile, LLMs are only passable at generating code because it is laughably easy, mainly because programming languages and "best practices" are extremely verbose, repetitive and clunky; requiring endless boilerplate and infinite layer cakes to achieve even the most trivial things.
Because other people that don't care about that shit are so dependent on technology, it gets pushed to everyone without consent.
Kind of like a hubris ouroboros.
@aral@mastodon.ar.alRE: https://esq.social/@SuffolkLITLab/116054463472872585
For Big Tech, “deleted” means setting deleted = false to deleted = true.
@kubikpixel@chaos.socialHow independent of the US corporations is your website that you use or even operate?
«Replace US tech with European alternatives:
Your current stack sends EU data to US servers under US law. Find sovereign, GDPR-native replacements in seconds.»
🇪🇺 https://www.cloudinfraatlas.eu
@Techmeme@techhub.socialAmazon, Google, and Microsoft reported a collective $1.1T backlog of cloud computing revenue in their latest quarterly earnings, including Microsoft's $625B (Jon Keegan/Sherwood News)
https://sherwood.news/tech/big-techs-usd1-1-trillion-cloud-computing-backl…
@aral@mastodon.ar.al“A jury in LA has delivered a damning verdict for two of the world's most popular digital platforms, Instagram and YouTube.
It ruled those apps are addictive, and deliberately engineered that way – and that its owners have been negligent in their safeguarding of the children who have used them.
…
Some experts have described the verdict as big tech's "big tobacco" moment, and we know how that worked out - although it didn't stop people smoking altogether…
@Techmeme@techhub.socialThe Linux Foundation announces $12.5M in total grants from Google and others to help FOSS maintainers cope with the influx of AI-generated security findings (Simon Sharwood/The Register)
https://www.theregister.com/2026/03/18/linux_foundation_ai_slop_defense/
@cdarwin@c.imAlphabet has lined up banks to sell a rare 100-year bond,
stepping up a borrowing spree by Big Tech companies racing to fund their vast investments in AI this year.
The so-called century bond will form part of a debut sterling issuance this week by Google’s parent company, said people familiar with the matter.
Alphabet was also selling $20 billion of dollar bonds on Monday
and lining up a Swiss franc bond sale, the people said.
The dollar portion of the deal was…
@Techmeme@techhub.socialSources: Meta has revived a previously shelved smartwatch project, now code-named Malibu 2, and plans to release it in 2026 with health features and Meta AI (Jyoti Mann/The Information)
https://www.theinformation.com/articles/meta-revives-plan-smart-…
@Techmeme@techhub.socialNvidia says it is working with Peak XV and other VC firms in India to fund AI startups; over 4,000 Indian AI startups have joined its global startup program (Dylan Butts/CNBC)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/18/nvidia-india-ai-vc-data-center-partners.html…
@Techmeme@techhub.socialGPT-5.3-Codex and Claude Opus 4.6 can handle the full app development lifecycle on their own, a sign of what's coming for most knowledge work within five years (Matt Shumer)
https://shumer.dev/something-big-is-happening
@Techmeme@techhub.socialAnthropic partners with CodePath to help redesign computer coding curricula at hundreds of US community and state colleges, integrating Claude AI tools (Wall Street Journal)
https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/anthropic-take…
@Techmeme@techhub.social @Techmeme@techhub.socialOpenAI buying TBPN makes little sense, par for the course for a company that, like Twitter, stumbled into a big market and may never build a functional business (Ben Thompson/Stratechery)
https://stratechery.com/2026/openai-buys-tbpn-tech-and-the-token-tsunami/
@Techmeme@techhub.socialThe US Senate passed COPPA 2.0 again, which would create new protections for young users; the bill now heads to the House, where it has struggled to pass (Anna Washenko/Engadget)
https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/coppa-20-passes-the-sen…
@Techmeme@techhub.socialGoogle unveils Home updates to fix a long list of annoyances and idiosyncrasies, and debuts Live Search to let Gemini analyze and describe live camera feeds (Thomas Ricker/The Verge)
https://www.theverge.com/tech/888008/big-google-home-updat…
@Techmeme@techhub.socialSome startups and researchers who can't access the most advanced chips are adopting a "frugal AI" approach, building smaller models on open-weight systems (Rina Chandran/Rest of World)
https://restofworld.org/2026/frugal-ai-big-tech/
@Techmeme@techhub.socialAs AI models commodify, Apple's plans to spend just $14B on 2026 capex, far below hyperscalers' combined $650B, or 90% of their cash flow, may be a genius move (Horace Dediu/Asymco)
https://asymco.com/2026/03/10/the-most-brilliant-move-in-corporate-histor…
@Techmeme@techhub.socialSource: Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, xAI, Oracle, and OpenAI will sign White House's initiative to build their own electricity supply for AI data centers (Emma Colton/Fox News)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/scoop-trump-brings-…
@Techmeme@techhub.socialTech stocks suffer their worst week in almost a year, driven by the Iran war and Meta's legal defeats; Meta fell 11%, Alphabet fell ~9%, and Microsoft fell ~7% (Ari Levy/CNBC)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/27/tech-stocks-iran-war-meta-verdict.html
@Techmeme@techhub.socialCourt docs: Zuckerberg texted Musk approvingly about his work with DOGE in February 2025, offering to "take down content doxxing or threatening" DOGE staffers (Karissa Bell/Engadget)
https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/mark-zuc
@Techmeme@techhub.socialThe EU appoints Anthony Whelan as its top competition official; Whelan says he will press ahead with Big Tech investigations despite President Trump's pressure (Barbara Moens/Financial Times)
https://www.ft.com/content/5781c054-9190-4ed0-8f91-3af94a6c313e
…
@Techmeme@techhub.socialA look at India's push to become a major provider of AI services, as US tech companies pledge tens of billions in Indian data center investments (Wall Street Journal)
https://www.wsj.com/world/india/why-big-te…
@Techmeme@techhub.socialThe war in Iran is complicating plans by Gulf nations to spend $300B on AI investments, putting at risk a potential source of funding for tech companies (Miles Kruppa/The Information)
https://www.theinformation.com/articles/iran-war-imperils-300-billio…
@Techmeme@techhub.socialUS DOJ antitrust chief Gail Slater says she is leaving, in a departure viewed as a victory for tech giants over some of MAGA's more populist voices (Axios)
https://www.axios.com/2026/02/12/justice-antitrust-chief-gail-slateer-resigns
