Dear Reader,
In a month marked by a series of historic developments, the broader pattern appears to be one of shifting tides. In this issue, we cover a range of these potential inflection points: the US’s memorandum of defeat and what it signals for a beleaguered Silicon Valley; SpaceX’s record-breaking IPO and its subsequent slump; the EU’s new tech sovereignty package; Big Tech’s continuing tussle with Brazilian lawmakers; and, of course, the passage of the International Labour Organization’s Convention on Decent Work in the Platform Economy.
PROLETARIAT MATTERS
by Angélica Salgado D and Kruskaya Hidalgo Cordero | 8 min read
It is a decade of workers’ struggles that created the conditions for what happened at the ILO this month. Looking back at these from a Latin American perspective, Angélica Salgado D. and Kruskaya Hidalgo Cordero engage with the key points of the Convention, and provide an analysis of how platform labor movements in the region should leverage this tool for the struggle going forward.
THE POLICY TABLE
by Shobhit S. | 10 min read
With the passing of the historic Convention, the battle now moves to its translation into national legislative frameworks. Here, it is crucial to bear in mind the persisting ambiguities within that are likely to be exploited by the powers that be. In a deep dive of the Convention’s stipulations on ‘algorithmic management’, Shobit S. provides a detailed analysis of what has been achieved in this domain, and what remains to be fought for.
THE BIG EXCESS
by Bama Athreya | 7 min read
In the midst of the all-consuming hype that AI continues to generate, it has become increasingly difficult to foreground some of the finer points of contention and more intangible dangers that the technology poses. For instance, the technology’s consequences for epistemic violence are potentially disastrous, threatening to distort channels of information and communication to the point where public understanding falters and important streams of memory are buried. Bama Athreya takes the measure of these dangers and sketches the outlines of a feminist counter-vision for the online public sphere.
Start with the Balanced Economy Project’s timely critique of the EU’s new Cloud and AI Development Act, which argues that digital sovereignty cannot be achieved by simply building more data centers. Using Ireland as a cautionary tale, it shows how AI infrastructure can entrench corporate concentration, public subsidy, and environmental costs unless questions of ownership, governance, and interoperability are placed at the center of policy.
Also read 7amleh’s latest report on Meta’s suppression of Palestinian content, which documents the persistence of platform bias and content moderation failures amid ongoing violence and offers crucial evidence of how digital infrastructures continue to shape political visibility and erasure.
For a more reflective read, explore the latest installment of the Digital Tribulations series from the Institute of Network Cultures, which meditates on the many meanings and contexts attached to the developments in digital sovereignty in Latin America.
Listen to this critical episode of the Counter Power podcast for a conversation on the rise of the new tech empires, the political power of Silicon Valley’s billionaires, and the growing resistance to their influence around the world.
Tune into this critical episode of the Tech Policy Press Podcast, discussing a recent investigation by Investigate Europe, which shows that a confidentiality clause inserted into an EU regulation after industry lobbying allows companies to keep site-level data center energy and water use out of public view.
Don’t miss this powerful account of how women ride-share platform workers transform shared experiences of care and emotional labor into collective forms of organization and resistance.
Finally, listen to Data & Society’s The Craft of Science with AI, a fascinating conversation on why scientific practice cannot be reduced to automation — foregrounding the role of evidence, judgment, and human expertise in an age increasingly captivated by AI solutions.
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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