Critical Takes on Corporate Power
@DiarmidOS
http://criticaltakes.org is a non-profit platform to discuss the power of multinationals. Also at http://criticaltakes.bsky.social if you're not keen on Nazis
Recommended read for the weekend.
“For the first time in two centuries, the West is no longer the leader in future technology, but the follower.” NEW: @kmac and I @phenomenalworld write about what the Chinese tech acceleration means for the world. Subscribe & read here: phenomenalworld.org/analysis/brics…
The UK is tightening its rules for approving new fossil fuel projects like Rosebank. Stopping Rosebank would be a big win for climate justice over oil industry lobbying. Listen to/read about why it matters: criticaltakes.org/society-and-na…
BREAKING 🚨: UK Government publishes new guidance that makes it harder to approve Rosebank. The UK gov is finally forcing oil companies to come clean over the enormous harm they are doing to our climate – something that is long overdue. The fight to #StopRosebank is heating up.
Fresh thinking on corporate power! How to stop Big Tech encroaching on digital public infrastructure: criticaltakes.org/tax-and-profit… How the "cloud giants" dominate other firms: criticaltakes.org/the-corporatio… How multinationals profit by influencing states: criticaltakes.org/the-corporatio…
US corporate profits are now a winner-takes-all game. The top 1% of firms capture over 93% of all after-tax profits, while the top 0.1% alone dominates the corporate landscape. (Figure 1) #BigTech #BigPharma #Inequality
How do we stop Big Tech from capturing the data value of digital public infrastructure? The case of India. criticaltakes.org/tax-and-profit…
New on Critical Takes: Sadhana Sanjay of @ITforChange explains how US firms have muscled in on India's ground-breaking digital public infrastructures. And how to protect the "public" part of DPIs. criticaltakes.org/tax-and-profit… If you like what you read, please share!
Excellent, informed thread on why handing a country's water supply over to rent-hungry private investors is a bad idea. (For non-UK folk, Ofwat is our water "regulator", which is now being scrapped).
I spent a year at Ofwat back in 2013 working on price controls I’m not remotely surprised it’s being abolished - what I saw astonished me 🧵 theguardian.com/business/2025/…
Interesting UK take on public alternatives to corporate dominance of food supplies in the era of climate crisis.
From New York to Chicago, American politicians are pushing state-owned grocery shops as a way to make food cheaper, writes James Meadway. Meanwhile, our leaders continue scratching their heads. novaramedia.com/2025/07/07/us-…
Expert take here on the connection between Google's share price and Search filling up with AI slop.
It's been more than a year since I gave up on Google Search (I switched to Kagi.com and never looked back). I don't miss it. It had gotten terrible. It's gotten worse since, thanks to AI (of course): pluralistic.net/2024/04/04/tea… 1/
🪙 Heads I Win, Tails I Win @IIPP_UCL Head of Research @CeciliaRikap examines how competition in the global #AI market favours the US companies who dominate cloud services that AI models run on. ✍️ Read her recent article for @Cmmonwealth here: buff.ly/OMk9nad
1/How do MNEs shift profits to tax havens & who’s doing most of it? Using #German administrative data, authors show: 🔹Profit shifting rises sharply with firm size 🔹€19bn shifted in 2022 alone 🔹95% of that by firms covered by the Global Minimum Tax 👉 taxobservatory.eu/publication/th…
It's hard to think about the institutions of the future when so many bad things are happening right now. But let's have a go: what might corporate power look like, in the more just world that we all long to live in? criticaltakes.org/the-corporatio…
So, what should we do about corporate power? How to fit many ideas from civil society into a single agenda: criticaltakes.org/the-corporatio… Inc @TaxJusticeNet @Oxfam @PWYPtweets @BalancedEconomy @ITforChange and many more!
Corporate power has been a keystone of the neoliberal era which is crumbling around us. But in a more just world, what would the giant global corporation look like? Here are many answers, from across civil society: criticaltakes.org/the-corporatio…
New! All the ideas on Critical Takes (and elsewhere) in one short read. And how they fit into a common agenda for responding to corporate power. The aim is to encourage discussion in civil society so please read, circulate, comment if you'd like to. criticaltakes.org/the-corporatio…
The latest Critical Takes newsletter is out! How multinationals play countries against each other, from @Jayati1609 And @CeciliaRikap on the power of the "cloud giants". Plus interesting takes from elsewhere on the struggle against plastic waste. criticaltakes.org/newsletters/cr…
For all the talk of the Cloud and virtual worlds, Big Tech often relies on pools of exploited human labour. Here are trade unions pushing back.
🚨 @TIME exclusive: Content moderators shield us from the darkest parts of the internet—but suffer PTSD, burnout & trauma. A global union alliance says: enough. Meta, TikTok, OpenAI, Google & more must adopt 8 safety protocols now. #TechWorkersRising time.com/7295662/ai-wor…
How Uber's algorithms squeeze the pay of its drivers, with very large effects on their earnings. Uber is carrying $30 billion in losses - more than the GDP of some countries - so it has a strong incentive to exploit its drivers as much as it can get away with.
New - Oxford University research in partnership with @Workerinfox exposes deepening exploitation of Uber drivers by algorithmic pay workerinfoexchange.org/post/new-resea…
A very clear and informative take on the outcome of FfD4, which covers many problems of corporate power. It includes useful political analysis on "determined coalitions" of states and the role of civil society.
The #CompromisoDeSevilla is more than just another UN outcome: it’s a contested space where power, politics & possibility collide. In our newest blog post, we unpack what it really means for #DebtJustice, #TaxJustice & rights-based reform. Read below ⬇️ #FfD4
Why dominance of the Cloud is giving giant tech firms a "quasi-sovereign" power over the world economy. And what we need to do about it. Read here: criticaltakes.org/the-corporatio…