In this article, Ronald J. Deibert from the University of Toronto examines the state of big tech companies today. Describing Google as a ‘massive commercial surveillance system’, Deibert explains what he calls ‘three painful truths’ about social media. First, that the social-media business model is based on relentless surveillance of personal data to tailor advertisements. Second, that we permit this surveillance willingly if not wittingly. Third, that social media is not incompatible with authoritarianism, and in fact enables it in many cases. Deibert highlights the issues of social media in great detail, but ends on a hopeful note. “The tasks are enormous, yet we must avoid fatalistic resignation to the toxic world of personal-data surveillance,” he writes. “We need to imagine a better world and start making it happen, before it is too late.”

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