Photo by James Wainscoat on Unsplash

"]Content warning: mention of the US Presidential election results

Following Wednesday’s US presidential results, one could say that the United States has become a kakistocracy (government run by the worst, less qualified people) AND a kleptocracy (a government by corrupt leaders who use their political power to accumulate wealth – at the detriment of their citizens) at once.

This nightmare was facilitated by a class of billionaire tech barons (Zuckerberg, Bezos, Musk to name a few) who used their powerful platforms to conceal vital information, to sway emotions of the electorate or to disseminate disinformation.

It is flagrantly obvious that the Fediverse with its independence and lack of algorithmic feeds is possibly the only safe and ethical online social media space one could be in right now.

I haven’t heard people mention the role of Meta Inc. (Facebook, Instagram, Threads) in this but it’s no wonder that the U.S. electorate was for the most part misinformed about what was at stake in this election… when the most powerful social media platforms in the United States (Instagram, Facebook, Threads) intentionally limited, downranked or hid political posts for years,[url=https://about.fb.com/news/2021/02/reducing-political-content-in-news-feed/] starting in 2021.

What do billionaires and kleptocrats want?

Uninformed, impulsive citizens driven by emotions (fear, rage, anxiety) instead of critical thinking. This way, they are so much easier to manipulate – for the gains of kleptocrats. This article by Tobias Rose from 2017 is an excellent primer about these issues: “This Is How Your Fear and Outrage Are Being Sold for Profit.”

And more recently, the 5Rights Foundation shared internal report from TikTok regarding evidence executives know the app is harming children:

According to TikTok’s own research, it only takes 260 videos – the equivalent of 35 minutes on the app – to form a habit and it concludes that “compulsive usage correlates with a slew of negative mental health effects like loss of analytical skills, memory formation, contextual thinking, conversational depth, empathy, and increased anxiety” as well as “interference[ing] with essential personal responsibilities like sufficient sleep, work/school responsibilities, and connecting with loved ones.”

Why add TikTok to this discussion? Because it is currently the most popular social media app in the world, especially for young people. It’s incredibly addictive and algorithm-based.

Let’s repeat the negative effects of TikTok in bullet points, to get the gravity of the situation (arguably, you could say the same about Instagram and other algorithm-driven social media apps):

• Loss of analytical skills
• Loss of memory formation
• Loss of contextual thinking
• Loss of conversational depth
• Loss of empathy
• Increased anxiety

And:

• Interference with sleep
• Interference with work/school responsibilities
• Interference with connecting with loved ones

According to the 5Rights foundation the daily average screen time of 13 to 18 year olds is 8 HOURS and 39 MINUTES.

Since we are talking about minors, this is not screen time related to work. It’s entirely recreational.

What will be my driving force for the next four years?

I will be thinking: what do the Big Tech billionaires and kleptocrats wish I would do? And then I will do the OPPOSITE.

Tech barons want extremely online citizens that are easily distractable and spend 4+ hours a day on TikTok, Instagram, Threads, X and the like? I will stay the hell away from these platforms (I already was, for the most part, except Threads – I just deactivated it).

Tech barons want people who would rather endlessly scroll feeds on social media apps instead of reading books. So I’m renewing membership at my favorite library in my city and I will make sure I spend at least an hour a day reading a wide variety of books (non-fiction, history, philosophy, FOSS manuals, etc.).

Tech barons want people to think that the only way one can socialize and nurture friendships is through screens – more precisely, through the billionaires’ digital platforms. So I will make sure to reach out to my friends via phone calls or privacy-focused independent messaging apps. I will completely bypass Big Tech’s toxic “social” platforms that are nothing but honeypots for gathering personal data… so they can serve us targeted ads. (I was already doing this, but now I will actively encourage my friends to join me on the other side – in the Fediverse).

Tech barons want women and girls to curate their online image following unattainable beauty standards, constantly comparing themselves to others and feeling inferior… so they would buy products and beauty services they don’t need in the hope of reaching that impossible ideal. Instagram is a toxic trap of unattainable life and beauty ideals. I will stay the hell away from it and encourage people (my friends in primis) to do the same.

Tech barons want you to think their platforms are vital to one’s work life and career. I will volunteer with FLOSS organizations and Fediverse platforms to spread awareness about their tools.

Become the tech barons’ nightmare

A 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 these 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 millions of individuals that fit this description – banding together against Big Tech’s technopoly. That is an awe-inspiring, almighty force that would make them tremble.

You think it can’t be done? Think again. The organic food movement comes to mind. How old were you when you started spotting organic fruits and vegetables at your supermarket? Did they progressively take up more shelf space? This is the Fediverse’s moment to start a sea change, a rebellion against the technopoly created by Big Tech.

I am more fired up than ever to promote it and help people escape from the grip of surveillance capitalism, towards greater freedom, independence, and digital sovereignty.

Step-by-step

Most revolutions start small. At home. The mission seems impossible, like climbing mount Everest, but it’s a good way to think of this work as step by step. Modest actions that compound over time.

This is what I have been doing this week:

Wednesday November 6:

• I set up my Raspberry Pi for the first time and took my first steps towards learning Linux.

Thursday Nov 7:

• renewed membership at my favorite library in Paris
• checked out books on Linux, Raspberry Pi, tech history and theories
• started reading Raspberry Pi for Dummies, familiarizing myself with Linux commands
• ordered a Raspberry Pi 5 (because the 3, ordered in 2016 and never used till yesteday, was impossibly slow)
• started a first draft of this blog post, with the intention of also sharing it with friends once it’s published
• requested the Twitter / X archives of two old accounts I hadn’t been using since the M takeover, but that I want to nuke ASAP
• deactivated my Threads account
• blocked threads.net posts from my Mastodon account

Friday Nov 8:

• updated my personal website to remove links to Threads
• started researching laptops for Linux
• started sketching a presentation about the Fediverse for high schools and universities (I have done presentations there for my film projects)
• brainstormed ideas for presentations about the Fediverse for parent-teacher associations in Paris (of kids in elementary school and middle schools)

Of course I have moments when I am feeling dejected by the current geopolitical situation. But as soon as these negative thoughts arise, I immediately think that the human beings I despise the most would win: one more progressive activist being driven to inaction by pessimism. I want to become a nuisance to them. A quote by Anita Roddick (founder of the Body Shop) comes to mind: “If you think you’re too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito.”

So what is it? What is the small action you are taking today that would annoy the tech barons?