The Tech Coup

Over the past decades, under the cover of ‘innovation’, technology companies have successfully resisted regulation and have even begun to seize power from governments themselves. Facial recognition firms track citizens for police surveillance. Cryptocurrency has wiped out the personal savings of millions and threatens the stability of the global financial system. Spyware companies sell digital intelligence tools to anyone who can afford them. This new reality—where unregulated technology has become a forceful instrument for autocrats around the world—is terrible news for democracies and citizens.

In her book The Tech Coup, Marietje Schaake offers a behind-the-scenes account of how technology companies crept into nearly every corner of our lives and our governments. She shows how technologies have gone from being heralded as utopian to undermining the pillars of our democracies. To reverse this existential power imbalance, Schaake outlines game-changing solutions to empower elected officials and citizens alike. Democratic leaders can—and must—resist the influence of corporate lobbying and reinvent themselves as dynamic, flexible guardians of our digital world. This evening, together with experts from academia and industry, we will explore what the tech coup means for our democracy and how this power can be reclaimed. We will delve into the challenges and actionable solutions around power, market dominance, and alternative infrastructures. Joining the discussion will be Natali Helberger, University Professor of Law and Digital Technology with a focus on AI at the University of Amsterdam; Wladimir Mufti, Program Manager Public Values at SURF; and a professional from the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM). The session will be moderated by Claes de Vreese, University Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Society at the University of Amsterdam.

This talk is part of the AlgoSoc Speaker Series.

Over de sprekers

Marietje Schaake is a non-resident Fellow at Stanford’s Cyber Policy Center and at the Institute for Human-Centered AI. She is a columnist for the Financial Times and serves on a number of not-for-profit Boards as well as the UN’s High Level Advisory Body on AI. Between 2009-2019 she served as a Member of European Parliament where she worked on trade-, foreign- and tech policy. She is the author of The Tech Coup.

Natali Helberger is Distinguished University Professor of Law and Digital Technology with a special focus on AI at the University of Amsterdam and member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). She is a member of the executive board of the Institute for Information Law (IViR), scientific director of the gravitation program ‘The Algorithmic Society’ (AlgoSoc) and co-director of the AI, Media & Democracy Lab. Her research over the past five years has focused on how AI and ADS are transforming society and their implications for law and governance.

Claes de Vreese (moderator) is Distinguished University Professor of AI & Society at the University of Amsterdam with a special focus on AI, media and democracy. He also holds the Chair of Political Communication at The Amsterdam School of Communication Research, University of Amsterdam and co-directs the AlgoSoc national research program and the AI, Media & Democracy Lab.