This is the first comprehensive book from a radical left perspective on the rising power of the Silicon Valley tech sector, particularly the five dominant empires of Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Amazon, challenging the ocean of liberal ass-kissery and right-wing scorn that dominates analysis of these giants.
Every day we grow more dependent on our phones and apps to do our chores, our jobs, and our socializing. And every quarter the enormous corporate giants of Big Tech take over more sectors of the economy. It’s time crack the code of the economic dynamics that drive these companies to become near-monopolies very early, and the unique forms of “platform power” each once possesses.
As Silicon Valley rises to become co-dominant with Wall Street in the halls of corporate power, this book playfully dissects the tech monopolies with humor and a plan to secure our privacy and expand our freedom—socializing the Big Tech platforms.
“Highly informed, lively and readable, this is a badly needed study of the giant high tech corporations that increasingly dominate the means of work and social interaction…. Beyond exposing the nature of this awesome and threatening system, Larson goes on to outline how it can, and should, be brought under popular control. A most valuable contribution to understanding and guide to action
— Noam Chomsky
“Bit Tyrants is potentially as horrifying as any fiction.”
— Winnipeg Free Press
‘Bit Tyrants’ author on the monopolistic behaviour of the world’s biggest tech firms and his vision for a socialized internet
— Canadian Dimension, December 2020 (full review)
Larson demonstrates, devastatingly, that the supposedly libertarian and benevolent owners of Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook used predatory practices to solidify their positions, running roughshod over competitors and their own employees alike…Bit Tyrants is potentially as horrifying as any fiction.
— Winnipeg Free Press, March 2020 (full review)
