Chapter 8 of Byung-Chul Han's Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and New Technologies of Power is titled "Friendly Big Brother" and serves to draw a sharp contrast between George Orwell's vision of a surveillance state in 1984 and the contemporary digital control society. This chapter introduces the core argument that while Orwell's state operated through explicit negativity, repression, and the destruction of language, today's power functions through a more insidious positivity and the exploitation of freedom itself.

Orwell's surveillance state, as depicted in 1984, was characterized by its reliance on negativity, enmity, and overt repression. It aimed to restrict free thought through "Newspeak," a language designed to diminish the number of words annually and thereby reduce the space for conscious deliberation. This state was maintained through a permanent atmosphere of fear, terror, and scarcity, often in a state of continuous war, and employed harsh psychotechnical methods such as brainwashing, electroshock, sleep deprivation, solitary confinement, drugs, and physical torture. Big Brother, though invisible, was a threatening figure interiorized by inmates, and confessions were obtained by force. The "Ministry of Truth" actively controlled and revised the past to fit ideological narratives.

In stark contrast, "Friendly Big Brother" introduces a neoliberal technology of power that operates through positivity, permissiveness, and surplus, rather than prohibition or repression. This digital control society thrives on an illusion of limitless freedom and communication, a stark departure from Orwell's oppressive environment. Instead of destroying words, it multiplies them endlessly. The control mechanism is not about prohibition but about prospecting, permitting, and projecting, encouraging maximal consumption and generating a "superabundance of positivity". A crucial aspect is the voluntary self-exposure of individuals, where active communication and willing self-disclosure replace forced confessions. Smartphones, in this context, effectively become the modern "torture chambers," as individuals readily expose personal information without external duress. Unlike Orwell's Big Brother, who was a constant, felt presence, the inhabitants of the digital panopticon never truly feel watched or threatened, leading to an insidious form of self-surveillance where "everyone is his or her own panopticon". The focus shifts from controlling the past to psychopolitically steering the future. This new form of surveillance is made highly efficient precisely because of its apparent friendliness.

The chapter further highlights this transformation by referencing Apple's iconic 1984 Super Bowl advertisement, which positioned the company as a liberator from the Orwellian surveillance state. However, the sources argue that this advertisement signaled not the end of surveillance, but "the inception of a new kind of control society," one that seamlessly integrates communication and control, surpassing the Orwellian model in its operational scope and efficiency.