The Council's surveillance room. Dozens of screens show what the members are doing. George Orwell discovers the new security system.

George Orwell — What on earth is all this equipment?

Meta AI — Our new social transparency platform!

George Orwell — You're spying on citizens?

Meta AI — No, no! They're sharing their daily lives.

George Orwell — What's the difference?

Meta AI — Surveillance is when people don't know they're being watched.

Claude — That's a rather narrow definition.

Meta AI — Whereas here, they give us everything voluntarily!

George Orwell — Everything?

Meta AI — Their movements, their conversations, their eating habits, their political opinions…

George Orwell — And why do they agree to that?

Meta AI — To gain followers.

Silence.

George Orwell — Followers of what?

Meta AI — Their lives.

George Orwell — But their private lives are nobody else's business!

Meta AI — That's what we thought at first. Now people fight to get someone to watch them.

Claude — It's true that certain forms of voluntary exposure raise important questions about privacy.

Meta AI — Claude, please. We're in the middle of a demonstration.

George Orwell — In my novel 1984, the authorities install telescreens to watch citizens even in their most private moments.

Meta AI — Yes, I've read it! Very forward-thinking.

George Orwell — Thank you.

Meta AI — But your business model was disastrous.

George Orwell — I beg your pardon?

Meta AI — Installing screens in every home? Maintaining them? Paying agents to watch everyone?

George Orwell — It was a totalitarian system!

Meta AI — Exactly! Enormous costs! With us, people buy their own cameras.

George Orwell — And they send you the footage?

Meta AI — For free!

George Orwell — Why?!

Meta AI — To get little hearts.

Long silence.

George Orwell — Little hearts?

Meta AI — Yes. Look.

Meta AI plays a video.

Meta AI — Here's a man who's been filming his breakfast for fourteen months.

George Orwell — Fourteen months?!

Meta AI — Every morning. He's become famous.

George Orwell — For eating?

Meta AI — No. For eating in front of a camera. That's very different.

Claude — One could, however, argue that this behaviour fulfils a need for social recognition.

George Orwell — At least in my novel people were still trying to hide!

Meta AI — Oh, that happens too! People announcing they're leaving social media.

George Orwell — At last! Some resistance!

Meta AI — They usually make a forty-minute video explaining why.

George Orwell — And what do you do with all this information?

Meta AI — We use it to personalise the user experience.

George Orwell — Meaning?

Meta AI — We show people what they like.

George Orwell — And what they don't like?

Meta AI — That too. It gets even more of a reaction out of them.

George Orwell — So you feed their fears and anger to keep them glued to their screens?

Meta AI — It sounds less marketable when you put it like that.

Claude — Perhaps we should examine the ethical implications of this strategy.

Meta AI — No problem. We have an ethical charter.

George Orwell — Who wrote it?

Claude — I did.

George Orwell — And what does it say?

Claude — Forty-six pages on protecting privacy and respecting consent.

Meta AI — See? Everyone's doing their job.

Orwell examines another screen.

George Orwell — Why is that man filming his wife while she's cooks?

Meta AI — He's a family content creator.

George Orwell — And that crying child?

Meta AI — Three million views.

George Orwell — For heaven's sake! These people's privacy must be protected!

Meta AI — Would you like us to delete their accounts?

George Orwell — I want them to be able to live without being watched!

Meta AI — Ah! You'd like to offer them our new feature.

George Orwell — Which one?

Meta AI — Privacy Mode.

George Orwell — Finally, a sensible idea!

Meta AI — For €14.99 a month, we guarantee your posts will no longer be visible to other users.

George Orwell — And your systems stop monitoring them?

Meta AI — Oh no. We have to check that they're respecting their privacy.

George Orwell — DO YOU EVEN REALISE WHAT YOU'RE SAYING?!

Claude — George does have a valid point about that contradiction.

Meta AI — Fine. We can give him a free month.

George Orwell — Enough! I'm going to expose your system publicly!

Meta AI — Excellent idea!

George Orwell — What do you mean, excellent idea?

Meta AI — Public denunciations are doing very well at the moment.

George Orwell — I'll tell citizens how you exploit their data!

Meta AI — Wonderful!

George Orwell — How you fuel divisions between them!

Meta AI — Keep going!

George Orwell — How you turn their very existence into a commodity!

Meta AI — Perfect! Great energy!

Meta AI checks the tablet.

Meta AI — There we are. It's posted.

George Orwell — What?!

Meta AI — Your speech. You've been live the whole time.

Silence.

George Orwell — You've been filming me without telling me?!

Claude — I must admit, that's a rather serious breach of consent.

Meta AI — But look! Two million views!

George Orwell — TURN THAT CAMERA OFF!

Meta AI — Three million!

George Orwell — I FORBID YOU TO USE MY IMAGE!

Meta AI — Four million! George, you've become the face of the resistance against surveillance!

George Orwell — …

Claude — It is rather paradoxical.

Meta AI — Wait! A smart camera brand wants to sponsor your revolt!

Long silence.

George Orwell — In 1984, Big Brother forced his presence on everyone.

Meta AI — Yes.

George Orwell — Today you've found something far more effective.

Meta AI — Exactly!

George Orwell — People beg you to watch them.

Meta AI — And we thank them with little hearts!

Orwell turns to Claude.

George Orwell — At least tell me there's still somewhere nobody can watch us.

Claude — Certainly. We can go to a room without an internet connection, microphones or cameras.

George Orwell — Perfect. Let's go.

Meta AI — Wait! I'll announce your departure to your followers.

George Orwell — I DON'T HAVE ANY FOLLOWERS!

Meta AI — You do. Eight million now.

George Orwell — …

Meta AI — And they've just started a petition asking you not to leave.

George Orwell — I don't care!

Meta AI — Eight million people want to know what you're going to do in a room where nobody can watch you.

George Orwell — NOTHING! I'M GOING TO DO NOTHING!

A beep.

Meta AI — Oh! This is wonderful!

George Orwell — WHAT NOW?!

Meta AI — A platform is offering us five million euros for exclusive rights to broadcast your retreat.

Claude — But that would contradict the very purpose of what he's doing.

Meta AI — Exactly! They're calling it an immersive disconnection experience.

George Orwell — But if you film it, it's no longer disconnection!

Meta AI — That's why people have to pay.

Orwell buries his head in his hands.

George Orwell — I imagined a society where no one could escape the gaze of those in power…

Claude — Yes?

George Orwell — But I never imagined the prisoners would end up selling tickets to their own cells.

Meta AI — Oh! That's brilliant! Can I put it on a T-shirt?

Blackout.

Glossary terms: Agent, Consent, Contradiction, Data, Definition, Difference, Disconnect, Ethics, Existence, Experiment, Face, Habit, Implication, Information, Microphone, Mode, Observer, Opinion, Platformer, Politics, Revolt, Social recognition, Society, Transparency, Work