The 2026 Global Gathering, which took place this September in Estoril, Portugal, was an important convening space for members across the APC network to connect, exchange and strengthen our advocacy and activism efforts. It also presented a special opportunity to bring together the members of the Rise Against Big Tech (RABT) coalition, a joint initiative recently co-launched by APC members Progressive Technology Project (PTP) and May First Movement Technology to help organisations make the switch away from Big Tech toward autonomous tools and platforms. The campaign is creating a global community, linking individuals and organisations that are ready to move to hosting providers and services that are more aligned with the values of collaboration, transparency, equity, community control and democracy to those who can support them on that journey.
During the event, we spoke with three of RABT’s coordinating members: Natalie Brenner, director of resource mobilisation with PTP, Alice Aguilar, executive director of PTP, and Jes Ciacci, membership coordinator of May First first and general coordination of Sursiendo (also an APC member). It was an exciting moment to discuss the creation of the coalition and explore our collective commitment to Big Tech alternatives and the resources available for organisations looking to make the switch.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
How did the RABT coalition come about? What brought you together and how did you find each other?
Alice: We are part of InfraRed, a loose coalition of movement tech providers really trying to figure out how we can support each other, because we're all about moving people off of Big Tech. Cloud68 came out with the idea of the Rise Against Big Tech coalition, and then we came on board with PTP and May First. We wanted to have a public campaign that was global, and so we needed to create a coalition and community because we're seeing that organisations want to have this mass exodus off of Big Tech, but then where do they go? We all believe in things that are decentralised and autonomous, but we still want to be connected. That's why we started out with this coalition and this global campaign.
What needs inspired the campaign format and how did you identify those needs?
Natalie: PTP and May First did a research project a couple of years ago called Cutting the Cord that was looking at the barriers to leaving Big Tech. Over our evolution as organisations, we've helped a lot of groups leave Big Tech with certain tools like email, website hosting, CRM for community organisers, that kind of thing. We talked to 410 to 450 organisations and individuals and we really learned about the barriers. The need for the Rise Against Big Tech coalition is to really sit with organisations that are struggling and wanting to find alternatives to Big Tech and not quite knowing where to turn, how to move, how to even start the conversations. And a lot of those conversations are about sitting in the challenges and recognising that this is going to be a long-term, strategic project to move away from Big Tech. So for us, one of the major needs is to facilitate those conversations and mitigate the frustrations that any technology transition can bring.
Alice: In addition to the research projects, when we started to build the Rise Against Big Tech coalition, we spent about a year together just talking about what we think the needs are. We found two avenues into it. One is figuring out how do we even talk to organisations? It meant figuring out that might we need to do workshops and develop a curriculum that they can take back and do in their organisations. because it's about cultural change. We're not about advocating for a particular tool – you have to figure out where folks are. We don't want them to stop organising; technology should not be a block.
The other need we saw is those tech providers that are actually helping organisations, who might also have run into blocks or challenges.
We came to the realisation that we needed to build an online community because this is going to go global. That’s why we’re here – we wanted to build a learning community where people can connect with each other. So we started experimenting and we just launched this community forum called How To Rise Against Big Tech, and folks can join that and start having conversations there. For us, it is really about listening so we can understand other’s needs. We're still trying to figure it out. We don't have answers, but we also want to develop the resources and help folks also contribute.
What is the first question you ask people who are interested in moving away from Big Tech to help identify their needs?
Jes: It's important to try to understand the needs behind what they are saying. For me, it's really important to ask people what are they are trying to take care of. Maybe that's not the way you frame the question, but that's the way you can frame the conversation. So trying to understand, for example, if you're afraid, what are your fears? What are they attached to? Who are the people or processes or what are the actions that you feel might be in danger if you do or do not do something? For some people it's about privacy and security, and for others it may be about the environment or their community. It's about people, it's about why they care. It's about what you care and why that must matters for you.
Many of the things that we want to change in the world are connected and there are different kinds of technologies involved. So right now when we are speaking about technology, we usually just mean digital technology. But technology is not only digital technology, and if we forget that we are part of a long heritage of different technologies that have been built in different ways, we actually lose a lot of the power of technology. But if that's important for us, maybe the question that we are going to ask is how much time are you going to dedicate to the move? It’s attached to the why – why I am doing what what I'm doing and who are the people involved and why that's important to me. It's not about one question for me; it's about a framework for how we wanted to be involved in this kind of migration.
Natalie: I think that the question might be different depending on how much we know the group, but it boils down to asking why they have come to this decision. We want to know if the organisation or network has been involved in the decision [to move away from Big Tech] and if there’s been political discussion about the reasons why. We also want to know if there are people within the organisation that have not been part of that conversation. A lot of groups expect us to say, “Great, okay, do you want to move your Google Docs to Nextcloud?” Or they’ll ask, “Hey, we've decided we're going to de-Google. What are the tools we need?” And we really like to go back to the “why?”
Alice: It's also trying to understand their issues. What is it particularly that you're trying to protect? We work with a lot of groups that are targeted and they're really concerned about collecting sensitive information about their communities. And we ask, how are you collecting it? What are you doing with it? How are you communicating? A challenge they often voice is that other organisations they collaborate with are on Big Tech. So we try take baby steps and say, “You don't have to do it all at once, but definitely start with your most sensitive information first.” They have to give us a sense of where they are because they may or may not really be ready or have the capacity to move. We need to help them with the expectations that it's not an overnight thing.
What are your future plans or hopes for the campaign, and how can the APC network get involved?
Alice: The immediate plan is to try to build this online community. We need to bring in more people and to understand what's happening politically in other areas so we can learn from each other instead of recreating the wheel. The online community is really important for sharing resources.
I think that the key role of APC is trying to move forward the agendas that we cannot move forward by ourselves, but we actually share. My first engagement with APC was building the strategy for the next four years and something that was really clear to me is that we built that together with all the members that wanted to participate. I think something that is really powerful about these kind of conversations is that you're in the same nest; we share some bases. We don't have to convince each other why we do this or that.
Natalie: The coalition is a space for movements and autonomous anti-surveillance providers to band together, support and learn from each other, and grow the infrastructure as well as stand in solidarity with each other as we are under more threat of attacks from external factors, governments and the forces working against us. So it's a space for us to strengthen our work together. I really see us building this coalition to more organisations, hosting providers and movement providers, so that we can strengthen that infrastructure and be a landing spot for folks that are truly ready to move away from Big Tech.
In the future, I also see us having a lot more resources available to the organisations that might want to work with us. This is really relationship building. Fostering those conversations is something we'll continue to do in the future, as well as standing in solidarity with each other. APC has such a deep commitment to bringing together its members. Progressive Technology Project is a new member of APC and May First Movement Technology has been a member for a while. We have felt welcomed into the fold and we've gotten to know who the other members are and learn what they're doing. And that is a parallel to what Rise Against Big Tech is doing to build these coalitions and build our strength together.