Tech companies or politicians – who really has the power?

Digital platforms, AI, and cloud services are no longer just products on the market. They have become part of the infrastructure that underpins how we work, communicate, run businesses, access information, and organize society. At the same time, the companies behind this technology operate across national borders in ways that policymakers find difficult to match.

Politicians are trying to set limits. Tech companies warn that too much regulation could stifle innovation and competitiveness. Researchers are sounding the alarm about the record-breaking pace of development and demanding that policymakers take action. Caught in the middle are the rest of us—increasingly dependent on systems that neither voters nor national governments fully control.

So who really holds the power when technology, capital, and politics converge? Can politicians still set the rules of the game, or are they already determined by the companies building the technology? And what happens to democracy when some of society’s most critical infrastructure is in private hands?

Drawing on 200 years of Swedish innovation history featured in the exhibition Drömlandet, TikTok’s Lukasz Lindell, Martin Gelin, a journalist, and other guests will gather at [ Samtal & Idé ] to discuss technology as a source of economic and political power. The conversation will be moderated by Gunnar Harrius from Dagens Industri.

Admission to Drömlandet, and all our other exhibitions, is included in the ticket.