Big Tech
Communities and climate should come before Big Tech’s profits
Latest news: Landmark data centre case sets precedent for binding environmental protections. See more.
AI expansion is derailing decarbonisation and democracy
AI data centres put an unprecedented strain on the UK’s finite water and power supplies, displacing local community needs and jeopardising our country’s move to clean power.
The engagement-driven algorithms that dominate online environments amplify outrage, hate and climate disinformation, eroding trust and threatening support for net zero policies and everyone’s wellbeing.
Big Tech power must be challenged.
Through building community power, political support and public understanding, we are holding tech companies and decision makers to account to ensure that our digital world accelerates climate action, protects people, and supports democracy.
Take Action
We need a moratorium on new data centre construction.
Communities across the UK are fighting to have their concerns about AI data centres heard but are being drowned out by big tech lobbyists who hold the ear of government. Will you help them?
Exposing the pressure of targeted online advertising on young people with Esme Fairbairn Foundation.
1-in-10 boys in Britain are seeing harmful content online, in as little as 60 seconds . Campaigning with Vodafone on sensation driven algorithms.
The change we want to see
By 2030, we want measures in place to disrupt Big Tech’s extractive business model and enable fairer, low-carbon digital systems.
We want to clear the path towards clean energy by limiting the development of energy-hungry data centres and ensuring that climate disinformation doesn’t block local renewables infrastructure.
This year, we are focused on building political support behind a moratorium on data centres in the UK until concerns around climate and community impacts can be addressed. We also want to continue to amplify local community concerns around proposed data centres and challenge political prioritisation of AI expansion over climate commitments.
If you’d like to be a part of this change, we want to hear from you. Get in touch to explore how we can work together to make sure politicians prioritise people and planet over tech industry profits.
Data Centres campaign
The race to dominate generative AI is driving a boom in data centres, built with little oversight and prioritising profit over people or the planet. They consume huge amounts of energy and water, sometimes diverting drinking water for cooling, and rely on new gas power stations that threaten climate targets. Development rarely considers human wellbeing or child safety, yet these centres enable AI systems linked to societal harm. Global Action Plan warns that unchecked data centre growth is a hidden but urgent crisis at the intersection of technology, resources, and climate.
76,000+
people joined our #KidsOnlineSafety campaign with Dove, demanding that social media be safe by design. The campaign film – “The Cost of Beauty” – won gold at the 2023 Cannes Lions
1,500+
voices called on Ofcom to tackle the harms caused by algorithms, not just content
900,000
views of our film, created through our partnership with Vodafone, exposing how social media fuels misogyny among boys
£20,000
crowdfunded from the public to take the fight against the government's decision to push through a Buckinghamshire data centre to court
With thanks to our partners
Working with Global Action Plan gave us the confidence to know we were running a credible campaign that led to meaningful action. Their campaigning expertise and strategic understanding of the UK landscape on child online safety was invaluable to our #KidsOnlineSafety campaign.
Amalie Thompson, Global Brand Manager, Dove
