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The Big Tech Threat to Democracy: challenging the oligarchy from Musk to Meta

Register now and join us on Thursday 20 February 2025, 6pm UK time / 19.00 CET

When: Thursday 20 February 2025, 6pm UK time / 19.00 CET
Where: Online via zoom

Trump’s election shows who’s really in charge of American politics: Musk, Bezos and the billionaire CEOs. These multinational corporations form part of a far-right business oligarchy that threatens to dismantle democracy. They’re mounting an attack on the EU’s fragile, existing regulation and taxation of big business. How do we fight back?

On Thursday 20 February we’ll be joined by speakers from Corporate Europe Observatory, who formed part of the Make Amazon Pay coalition that successfully banned Amazon lobbyists from the EU parliament, and the European Trade Union Confederation. Together, we’ll learn how Big Tech influences the EU, how movements have successfully fought back, and what we can do now to retake power from multinational corporations.

Speakers:

Bram Vanken is a researcher and campaigner specialising in Big Tech and economic and social justice at Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), a campaign group working to expose and challenge the privileged access and influence enjoyed by corporations and their lobby groups in EU policy making. CEO recently produced the report Bias baked in: How Big Tech sets its own AI standards and worked within the ‘Make Amazon Pay’ coalition to end the presence of Amazon lobbyists in the EU parliament.

Isabelle Schömann is Deputy General Secretary at the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). Isabelle will discuss ways Big Tech undermines workers’ rights and how the labour movement can mobilise transnationally to successfully challenge the power of multinational corporations.

30th January 2025