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'''Big Brother''' is the name of the autocratic and absolutist dictator of [[Oceania]] in [[George Orwell]]'s dystopian satire ''Nineteen Eighty Four''. The novel frequently refers to the slogan 'Big Brother is Watching You,' a term that has become associated with situations where the state exercises excessive surveillance of the individual citizen.

'''Big Brother''' is the name of the autocratic and absolutist dictator of [[Oceania]] in [[George Orwell]]'s dystopian satire ''Nineteen Eighty Four''. The novel frequently refers to the slogan 'Big Brother is Watching You,' a term that has become associated with situations where the state exercises excessive surveillance of the individual citizen.

'''Big Brother''' is also the name of a television format developed by the Dutch media company Endemol, first broadcast in the Netherlands but now produced in numerous nations around the world.

'''Big Brother''' is also the name of a television format developed by the Dutch media company Endemol, first broadcast in the Netherlands in 1999 but now produced in numerous nations around the world. Typically, a number of people (usually twelve to fifteen) are isolated in a specially-constructed compound and are watched by cameras in all areas and at all times; each week, television audiences vote out one of a number of candidates for eviction decided upon by inmates. The programme was originally presented as being a social experiment, but has rapidly descended into tawdriness. In 2007, the UK series of 'Celebrty Big Brother' provoked an unprecedented 44,000 complaints to the broadcasting regulatory body Ofcom after the production company Endemol and the broadcaster Channel 4 was perceived as not intervening to stop the racist bullying of one participant.