At Bits of Freedom, you are an advocate for platform regulation, thinking about the interests of people rather than those of Big Tech. Why is this issue also important for people who are not or hardly active online?
Even if you’re not using social media, you’re being watched and profiled by Big Tech, since they have tracking cookies on just about every website.

For people who don’t use the internet (are there any?), these issues are still important, because what happens on these platforms impacts our entire society. Big Tech influences our elections, public discourse and public perception.

How does your work relate to this year’s theme, Our Terms, Our Conditions?
This week, we’ve gone live with a campaign titled ‘i ♥ technology ✱ but only on my terms’, so this year’s theme fits our work perfectly. On our website we write this about the campaign: “The impact of technology on our society is huge. Therefore, new technology always comes with choices about what kind of society we want. Regardless of how much we love the bright side of tech, we shouldn’t lose sight of its dark side. We love technology, but only on our terms. Protect what you love.”

What event or programme of the IMPAKT Festival are you looking forward to most?
Entangled Networks 2: Empires of course!

In the theme of the festival, this year we created a series of Fortune Cookies with wishes for the future of technology and privacy. Which fortune cookie wish would you hope to find?
Big Tech will stop with tracking-based personalised ads.

Our other Cookie Conversation guests are Renske Leijten and Julia Janssen.