Just launched 🚀: our new @amnesty report making the case that Google & Facebook’s surveillance-based business model is a systemic threat to human rights
amnesty.org/en/latest/news…
amnesty.org/en/latest/news…
2/ We all know the concentration of power in the hands of big tech is a problem. We hope this brings a human rights lens to the debate. For those who aren’t going to wade through all sixty pages, here are some choice bits from the report 
3/ Google & Facebook have established control over the primary channels that most of the world relies on to engage with the internet. As per below stats, these platforms are no longer ‘optional’ in many societies, & using them is a necessary part of participating in modern life.
4/ the business model is predicated first and foremost on the extraction of vast amounts of data about people in order to create highly personalized profiles for advertising. This sets the companies on a never ending quest to expand their data empires (& thereby profits)
5/ These world-straddling corporations have amassed more data than GCHQ & the NSA with even less acct & oversight. + let’s not forget that this serves the intelligence agencies too (as @rydermc put it, why stock your fridge when you live next door to Sainsburys?)
5/ Crucially, and this is the kicker. This isn’t the internet people signed up for when these platforms started out. Google and Facebook chipped away at our privacy over time. They did so as their power grew and as people became dependent on their services.
6/ Now, people are forced into making a Faustian bargain. Opt in to pervasive tracking & profiling - where your data can be weaponized & used to influence you. Or opt out and forego the benefits of the modern world. This is NOT a legitimate choice. It's an assault on privacy.
7/ So what can be done? We’re advocating for a smart mix of structural solutions. This is a systemic problem and the solutions also needs to be at a system-level. We’ve a range of recommendations but the most important is this
8/ It is quite possible that proper GDPR enforcement could get us a long way towards this, if pioneering challenges such as the one from @maxschrems are successful. But it won’t happen if govs don’t step up to address this as one of the urgent human rights challenges of our time
9/ Huge thank you to the many, many people who informed the thinking in this report. Too many to name but a few in particular who were especially generous with their time @cori_crider @carlykind_ @MarechalPhD @mathewryder @shoshanazuboff @RaviNa1k
@cori_crider @carlykind_ @MarechalPhD @MathewRyder @shoshanazuboff @RaviNa1k 10/ Finally, HUGE props to the lead author of this report @JoeWestby who returned from 6 months of pat leave to find this on his plate &, undaunted, set about assembling this blistering takedown of the business model whilst working part-time. I am in awe of your brain.
