A small number of platforms has become extremely dominant. Examples are Google, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. All well-known services, all controlled by an even smaller number of corporations: Big Tech. These are so dominant that we have become dependent on them. It is not an option not to have an account with Google, WhatsApp or Instagram. After all, you and your colleagues use Google Docs at work, all your neighbors are on WhatsApp and you use Instagram to promote your new beats. It is like being held hostage by those services. And they set the rules!

What's going on?

Platform dominance affects one of the corner stones of democracy: public debate. Public debate also takes place on large online platforms, but is decided by the choices made by those platforms. The platform determines which messages are reinforced: For example messages from the party paying most to that platform. Or shocking extremist messages that make us linger more and more often on the platform. Leaked documents revealed that Facebook, for instance, prioritized messages that provoked angry emojis over messages that did not. Which voices are heard, and which not, depends on what benefits the tech corporations.

Because we are held hostage by big platforms, as it were, we are also dependent on their rules when it comes to content moderation. Google and Facebook decide which messages they delete, and without giving any explanation. It is impossible to appeal against their decisions. This is just another way in which they influence the public debate: They decide which voices they find undesirable, and simply delete those.

Competing services don’t stand a chance. The platforms make sure we stay dependent on their websites. With other apps we cannot communicate with the apps of the big platforms: WhatsApp users can chat only with other WhatsApp users. And there is no alternative Appstore. By holding us hostage and warding off competitors, the big platforms maintain their dominance.

Because we are stuck with those dominant platforms, we are stuck also with their revenue models. Many big platforms choose to follow us everywhere, using our behavior to design profiles of us. And they use those profiles to let us see personalized ads. This in turn leads to manipulation, discrimination and disruption of the public debate. Yet big platforms persist because they make good money.

What does Bits of Freedom think?

We do not want to just combat the symptoms, but we want to uproot the system that makes platforms so dominant. Only then can the market dominance of platforms be countered, and will we no longer be dependent on (the rules of) that handful of big corporations. We should be able to choose which platform we want to use, or whether we want to use a platform at all, which Appstore we want to use, whether we want to delete apps, and know why we are recommended specific content. And no matter what platform you choose, you should be able to communicate with people who choose another platform. You should be able to send someone on WhatsApp a message via Signal. Or to read a message on LinkedIn on Facebook or Mastodon.

In addition all platforms should protect our digital civil rights. That means that platforms should comply with certain rules to ensure that our freedom of speech, privacy and democracy are no longer at risk. Tracking-based advertising should stop. As it is our conviction that people should be able to make free and informed choices on platforms, we aim for a ban on manipulative web design. Examples are popups, where the YES button is bigger than the NO button, or the checkbox for “sign up for our newsletter” that is pre-selected by default. It is our wish that parties other than the big platforms can make the recommender systems on big platforms, which decide the content you get to see.

What does Bits of Freedom do?

Policy makers agree that a halt should be called to this online Wild West. Platforms should take responsibility for their dominant positions. That responsibility comes with rules that safeguard our digital civil rights. In 2024 the Digital Services Act and the Digital Market Acts took effect. We are committed to make sure that Big Tech sticks to the rules. We strive for a more diverse communication landscape, and more control over our communication.