Our plan to build bottom-up resistance to billionaire technology

We shouldn’t depend on platforms controlled by tech billionaires to maintain healthy, connected communities. Geeks for Social Change (GFSC) is working with a network of technologists and organizers to develop alternatives that make corporate tech platforms unnecessary.

The Problem with “The Startup” Model

The dominant business model in tech involves speculative financiers backing small companies that eventually get sold to major tech corporations or go public. This approach has created a culture of “move fast and break things” that prioritizes growth over community benefit. As the article notes, “there are a ton of routes to finance the new Uber, but none to create the new Wikipedia.”

Current Tech Partners

GFSC has assembled a coalition of cooperatives and studios, including:

• Common Knowledge: A worker co-op developing mapping tools for political movements
• Autonomic: Providing open-source solutions adapted for community organizations
• Mastodon: Offering a federated social media alternative
• Various other platforms focused on community events, environmental organizing, and inclusive technology

Key Barriers to Adoption

Polish gap: Community tools lack the resources for extensive design that commercial platforms enjoy.

Capacity constraints: Community organizers struggle to find time experimenting with new solutions amid existing burnout.

Methodology mismatch: Tech methodologies emphasize product sales rather than community ownership and co-production.

Three-Year Vision

GFSC aims to establish community technology as integral to organizing by fostering shared spaces, supporting tech literacy, funding experimentation, and measuring the impact of divesting from corporate platforms.