Big Tech Narrative Initiative

Online Convening

We convened for a one-day online event on Tuesday, 3 December, 2024 to develop our collective knowledge and strategy moving forward. Throughout the event, we highlighted the role storytelling has in shaping the way our societies interact and engage with Big Tech, focusing on the intersections of Big Tech with democracy, human rights, national security, gender rights, youth political engagement, journalism, cultural spaces, and more.

Some of the conversations and presentations that took place included:

• “Big Tech: A Story Of Power” - unpacking how the story of Big Tech has appeared to move from connection, community and entertainment to mass surveillance, control of information systems, and the merger of tech power with state power - and that the latter has been the truth of Big Tech all along.
• “Big TV on our Big (and small) Screens” - an analysis of what mainstream media, film and television has served the public when it comes to stories about technological developments and Big Tech. Analysing mainstream English language film and TV between 2010-2024, Doc Society found most stories were centred around CIS white, heterosexual, men from the global north, men as tech innovators, whistleblowers, heroes utilising tech, rebelling against tech with tech, romantically connecting with robotic/tech-enhanced/AI women. Most of the stories were serious, with a large sub-genre of techno-thrillers and a smaller sub-genre of satirising tech innovators. When it came to non-fiction, Doc Society found a large focus on male tech innovators, online communities, and more recently a shift to look at problems within the structures of Big Tech - though not a huge amount of non-fiction broke through, which is a question to address as we build narrative strategy in this area.
• “What is the public feeling about all of this?” The main takeaway from reviewing studies and findings on public opinion regarding Big Tech was that the data shows growing concerns about Big Tech, its data practices, its impact on democracy, and the lack of agency we have in using Big Tech products - and this is stronger in localities where Big Tech is viewed as a reason for the spread of misinformation and societal polarization. People want technology in their life, just not like this - support for regulation, transparency, and diversification is wide.
• A panel conversation with journalists, youth activists, and human rights defenders on “The Stories We Need to be Telling” to address this moment of technological upheaval and online social disordering

As part of the online event, we also hosted a creative showcase of five film projects dealing with issues surrounding Big Tech and technological elements of modern society in time sensitive, creative, and innovative manners. The showcase served to drum up excitement for these stories in their various stages of production.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the kickoff - we can’t wait to continue this work with all of you.