Meanings
plural techlashes · alternative tech-lash
- neologismBacklash against technology.
The coming tech-lash [title]
2013, Adrian Wooldridge, “The coming tech-lash”, in The Economist4 more examples
The techlash against Amazon, Facebook and Google—and what they can do [title]
2018 January 20, Eve Smith, “The techlash against Amazon, Facebook and Google—and what they can do”, in The EconomistVestager was once criticised by Barack Obama who suggested her actions were the result of Europe's tech-envy because they ‘can't compete’ with Silicon Valley. But, as the ‘tech-lash’ continued in the wake of election shocks and Facebook scandals, she has been more often cited as a role model for much bigger interventions.
2018, Tom Baldwin, Ctrl Alt Delete: How Politics and the Media Crashed Our Democracy, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 290What’s offered is less class analysis than psychoanalysis. It is the psychoanalytic inflections that elevate this book above so much recent “techlash” literature.
2019 August 8, William Davies, “The Twittering Machine by Richard Seymour review – escape from dystopia”, in The GuardianIt was July 2017, and the techlash was burgeoning; ordinary people were worried about AI coming for their jobs and unscrupulous tech companies misusing their data.
2020, Wendy Liu, Abolish Silicon Valley
Origin
2013, blend of tech + backlash, coined by Adrian Wooldridge; popularized 2018.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
techlash. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/techlash
“techlash.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/techlash. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “techlash,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/techlash.
Source: techlash on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.