BigTech.fail is an open-source research project aiming to highlight the dangers of censorship, misinformation and surveillance from today's technology companies and governments. This is done based on the premise that secrecy and a lack of information bolster these dangers while transparency and knowledge challenge them.
The key information can be organized into separate, but related, sections that are described below.
An Event is a summary with source material about something that happened related to the weaknesses or "failures" of BigTech. This could be, for example, when:
- an individual is censored, deplatformed, defunded, etc.
- an individual voluntarily leaves a BigTech platform.
- a BigTech platform does something stupid to itself (forms a trust and safety team, forms a supreme court, helps government, etc.)
Events will contain a date, a title, a summary, any Profiles that were involved, and links to source material.
A Platform is a full report on a BigTech platform that includes a summary, all of its Events, and what AltTech serves as its alternative(s). The summary could be, for example, a brief written history highlighting any notable Events in which the Platform was involved.
An AltTech profile is information about an alternative tech platform. It contains the platform's name and a summary that can include miscellaneous information such as some of it's strengths or weaknesses.
A Profile is data about individuals / organizations that have been the targets of BigTech abuse. Profiles contain the individual's / organization's publicly available name (ex: as it appears on their social media accounts), a short bio, and links to their presence on AltTech (if any). Doing this helps to negate the effectiveness of deplatforming: if someone is kicked off a platform, they can still have a presence and a voice somewhere else on the internet.
Profile links will be prioritized as follows:
- User-controlled spaces (their website, their independent support mechanism, their merch shop, etc.)
- Third-party AltTech support mechanisms (Locals.com, SubscribeStar, etc.)
- AltTech (Minds, BitChute, LBRY, Gab, etc.)
The primary information channel will be the website, and secondary channels will include AltTech platforms.