Dear Reader,
After several whirlwind months on the international stage, May has brought a glimmer of hope that tensions may finally begin to ease. This month, we track these fragile overtures towards peace and their bearing on the Tech world. We also cover the wave of mega-AI IPOs scheduled for the coming months, the growing clamour for platform accountability in the courtrooms, and a pronounced impetus amongst countries in the South to take the reins of AI governance.
by Norbert Bollow | 7 min read
This year’s World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference marked a significant turning point in the digital policy landscape with the expiry of the so-called e-commerce moratorium. Norbert Bollow offers a primer on what transpired at the conference, the broader historical context surrounding the moratorium itself, and why its expiration signals the beginning of a new era in digital trade politics, particularly in relation to growing tensions between the United States and the Global South.
by Kenzo Soares | 5 min read
In his recently launched report, Platform Cooperativism and the State: Lessons from Brazil’s Public Policies (2023–2026), Kenzo Soares examines five years of state-led initiatives to foster platform cooperativism in Brazil. The report tracks key undertakings and achievements, as well as significant constraints that remain to be overcome. In this article, Soares provides a snapshot view of his research, and an illuminating glimpse into one of today’s most interesting zones of experimentation with alternative digital futures.
by Isha Bhallamudi | 7 min read
As the livelihoods and job prospects of millions continue to deteriorate amid ongoing global economic turmoil, the algorithmic forms of control governing their work have become increasingly insidious. Drawing on her fieldwork among beauty workers in India’s gig economy, Isha Bhallamudi highlights the instability and disruption caused by sudden shifts in platform algorithms, while underscoring the importance of tracing these systems back to the human decisions that shape them.
Start with Ed Zitron’s latest installment of ‘What If We’re in an AI Bubble?’, an incisive analysis bringing together the many facts of the speculative economics underpinning the AI boom, from hyperscaler debt and stranded GPUs to the fragile financial engineering holding the industry together.
Also read the Balanced Economy Project’s latest paper that makes a critical connection of a speculative strategy in which Big Finance and its highly financialized proxy Big Tech seek to expand profitability by manufacturing a market and then extracting returns while externalizing costs.
Tune into this urgent conversation with the organizers of RightsCon following the abrupt cancellation of the summit in Zambia after pressure to restrict Taiwanese participation.
Also put on your radar Ghost in the Machine, an upcoming documentary by Valerie Veatch that traces the untold origins of artificial intelligence through the lens of power, politics, and ideology rather than technological inevitability.
Don’s miss this critical conversation with Emily M. Bender, co-author of the landmark “stochastic parrots” paper and The AI Con, as she unpacks why fluency is not the same as understanding and what is at stake when we mistake convincing AI output for meaning, expertise, or care.
Finally, read Rest of World’s excellent reporting on AI sovereignty in Africa, which examines how governments across the continent are navigating the pressures of Big Tech infrastructure investment while attempting to retain autonomy over data, compute, and digital futures.
DataSyn is a free monthly newsletter from the Center for Global Digital Justice, featuring content hosted by Bot Populi.
DataSyn is supported through the Fair, Green and Global Alliance.
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