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The TED Interview: Roger McNamee Takes on Big Tech

Apr 2019 🌐 TED

In this audio episode of The TED Interview, TED curator Chris Anderson questions Roger McNamee — an early Facebook investor turned outspoken critic — about big tech's 'missteps, and where we go from here.' Recorded live at TED2019, the conversation covers how attention-maximizing product design, market concentration among a handful of platforms, and pervasive behavioral data collection are, in McNamee's view, associated with reduced individual control over one's own time and attention, alongside broader risks to democratic discourse. McNamee argues for structural remedies — antitrust action and data-rights regulation — rather than voluntary platform reform. TechKids Foundation includes this long-form interview as a detailed, plain-language articulation of McNamee's argument that platform design choices, not individual willpower alone, are associated with problematic engagement patterns.

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"The TED Interview: Roger McNamee Takes on Big Tech." TED2019, TED, April 2019. https://www.ted.com/talks/the_ted_interview_roger_mcnamee_takes_on_big_tech

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