Brussels is fighting the tech giants, start-ups are already jumping in the gap
Brussels is working on two new laws to control the power of Great technology restrict. Not everyone waits and perseveres for the time to come: start-ups, young fast-growing companies, are responding to the task of pacifying the internet giants.
For example, there is a more privacy-friendly alternative to Facebook from the Netherlands: Quodari. The platform went live last year. Fanatic user Wim van ‘t Einde shares the photos of his puppy Banjer. “You make collections and you share them with connections.”
Van ‘t Einde also shares collections on photography and regional archaeology. They don’t just have to consist of photos; on the platform, you can store almost anything, including text files and videos. The app is therefore a kind of cloud service with a social sauce.
No data trading
Quodari does not use algorithms to use users, users and does not trade data. It is free, but for more historical and functionalities you have to pay. “It is often said that there is no alternative to Facebook and we have to,” says founder Paul Pennarts. “Now there is another alternative and everyone can make a choice.”
According to Pennarts, there is little competition in this area. There are only some privacy-friendly browsers and messaging apps. Browsers Vivaldi and Protonmail, among others, are in an international coalition with Quodari. Pennarts hopes that these kinds of tech companies will get the wind in their backs if the European Union restricts the large removals.
Ex-Facebook employee Frances Haugen recently made an extra dent in the image of Meta, as the company that Facebook now falls under. Haugene that the company has made a profit over user safety. Documents she shared showed that the company actually amplifies hate speech and misinformation and encourages division among users.
Cosmetics chain Lush said goodbye to Instagram and Facebook connected. “Young girls are our biggest fans but are being harmed by these social media platforms,” the company said.
The bath bomb giant also discontinued Snapchat and TikTok. “These platforms all focus on viewer maximization, with proven effects. We’re trying to achieve the opposite: well-being.”
Addressing advertisers on Facebook can be effective, American marketer Nandini Jammi has proven with her company CheckMyAds. It points out that their ads often end up on websites that contain information of polarizing messages:
‘Freedom of speech applies to people and companies’
The ten million Lush followers now get the message ‘Be somewhere else‘to see. The international chain, which has a turnover of more than a billion euros worldwide, has so far not seen a drop in revenue. Lush is not active on YouTube, Pinterest and LinkedIn, but does not do sponsored posts and does not advertise in any way.
In 2020, after the Black Lives Matters demonstrations, some 1,000 companies temporarily stopped advertising on Facebook in response to the platform’s lax crackdown on hate speech from right-wing groups.
It hurt Facebook’s revenue. Changes at Great technology therefore seem to have to come from legislation, certainly as long as the more privacy-friendly lapses are still small.