Many are arguing that the new dominant form of power lies in a digital means.
America's big tech, aka the magnificent 7- Alphabet, Nvidia, Meta, Tesla, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon, have had a foothold in the global economy, and some may argue politics, over the last 2 decades. An oligopoly style set up, some have coined it a new form of capitalism - Technofeudalism. It’s been described by ex-finance minister of Greece, Yanis Varoufakis, as a serfdom-like state, with Big Tech as the lords and the rest of us as serfs. Many are arguing that the new dominant form of power lies in a digital means.
As a branch of protest, a new movement coined ‘Resist and Unsubscribe’ is an online campaign led by podcaster and NYU professor Scott Galloway that doesn’t take pickets and marches, but rather a vote with your purse. All of these key tech players hold a significant role in Trump's administration today, with their AI used in military practice and their algorithms platforming misinformation on his behalf. Galloway argues an economic strike like this would see tech giants hurt without hurting consumers.
For the month of February, Galloway promoted the idea of cancelling American tech and media subscription services including Amazon, Uber, Disney, Netflix and more. While AI and tech are the main focus, the strike expanded to target companies enabling ICE, including Dell, Fedex and AT&T. The idea is that this will strike the Trump administration where it hurts, their purse.
Galloway used events like September's dinner at the White House as inspiration to get involved, whereby tech CEOs fawned over Trump and showed they have his ear. Additionally to that, Amazon's Jeff Bezos outbid Disney and Paramount to fund the new Melania film at a cost of $40 million. According to Galloway, these events underscore the influence the tech sector has on government regimes and the power they hold in shaping society.
Across the pond, Rutger Bregman is calling for Europeans to cancel ChatGPT subscriptions. The campaign follows the revelation that OpenAI’s president, Greg Brockman, donated $25m to Maga Inc and serves as a reaction to the government contract for a ChatGPT screening tool that helps the US government decide who to hire for deportation raids with ICE.
A collective effort is key with such campaigns, however according to Galloway, the ‘Resist and Unsubscribe’ movement has created a $265,798,620 loss in market cap in the month of February. Suffice to say, this campaign had some impact on numbers but whether canceling ChatGPT subscriptions or canceling American Tech more broadly galvanizes serious change from the American government remains to be seen.