never fails. I come back to this often, especially when i watch folks pleading with yt people to care. :( Sister Outsider ‘Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference Audre Lorde

There is something very Empire about the mainstreaming of a framework of 'digital sovereignty' in tech policy spaces. Critiques of US internet and tech imperialism should not then induce a desire to have our 'own' versions of such extraction and control.

Twitter's AI (xAI) has been rampant lately - producing user-requested non consensual intimate images of women and sometimes children. Unsurprisingly, users have also been engaging in digital misogynoir. I comment in the Telegraph on this dehumanising harassment and abuse.

Extremely tired of living through precedented times

In 2026 I want all of the decent people to remember one thing. You aren’t meant to be this disciplined, this self-sacrificing to survive. The environment is supposed to support good living. We can have that. You are not a failure. That is politics. That is all.

TLDR: The paper I'm teaching tomorrow finds that the shadow of enslavement is SO LONG that there's NO level of saving, education, capital gains, wealth tax, or income redistribution that closes the racial wealth gap. Only one thing closes the gap: REPARATIONS. academic.oup.com/qje/article-...

It’s wild we’re still talking about masks. I still mask up in grocery stores, elevators, public bathrooms, and public transit cuz I don’t like being sick and I don’t want to get my kid sick and it doesn’t have to be more complicated than not liking being sick. It’s weird anyone would question that.

One data set down, one more to go (20 interviews) 🥹#iykyk #thematicanalysis. Thanking the stars for Braun and Clarke boii #phdarchive

It's a mistake to think of the attempt to deport researchers as a slippery slope, because multiple boulders have been rolled down the hill at once from many different angles, including: - threats to funders - threats to 501c3 status - arrest on the streets - cuts in funding - congressional inquiries

Undoubtedly

NEW: last night, the US govt launched an assault on the ‘global censorship industrial complex’, aka European tech researchers/campaigners. It’s a deeply chilling move & speaks as to why we need international solidarity more than ever. open.substack.com/pub/broligar...

Age verification is not the way to keep kids safe on the internet. CDT has some thoughts about what kind of child safety policies and features might actually be effective: cdt.org/insights/wha...

Need that book on close reading expeditiously

4chan is just as influential as Fox News, X, instagram and Facebook. You might not realize this because of the Cambridge analytica settlement or literal uprisings catalyzed by them or because you know how numbers work but it’s actually true

No more 'digital colonialism', only 'technocoloniality' and 'technocolonialism' i fear 🙂‍↔️. I think Madianou's correct on the necessity of explicitly naming 'infrastracturing' in the framework for analysing the nexus of tech solutionism/(racial) capitalism, colonialism, humanitarianism.

Shout out to @maevewalsh.bsky.social and @osanetwork.bsky.social because the newsletter is so helpful in showing me what I have inevitably missed 🥲

Not loving the nation-state of it all regarding the intersection of economics and tech. Now seeing EU folks saying we need to secure Europe's 'digital sovereignty' and I just...*sigh*

🔖 RSVP for April 16: Join the @smex.org team for this Community Knowledge Share webinar as they share their #tech and #policy work and the impact it has had on analyzing and reviewing #apps. buff.ly/VUh96QL

I’m unsure of the utility of framing the issue of public sector AI as one around ‘public trust’ instead of fundamental rights

Letting safety be individualized (fend for yourself politics) as became popular with covid I guess

FYI, the USG gave border officials the authority to search visa holder’s phones and laptops at the border several years ago. Yes people complained but as non-citizens visa holders have no standing to bring litigation in US courts so the rule largely went unchallenged. This is an expansion of that.

@petramolnar.com what's the best email for you?

Postgraduate scholarships at King's College London Faculty for Arts & Humanities for Black, Asian, and minority home students. Please share with those who might be interested. www.kcl.ac.uk/study-legacy...

It's been six weeks since I moved the charity to a four-day work with no reduction in pay. I do not see a reduction in "productivity" or "outputs" from the team. And I am better able to manage working full-time and doing my PhD part-time 😃

I’ve just finished a review of Ofcom’s VAWG guidance for the consultation and I feel so disheartened. There is nothing enforceable in this and it feels futile.

No.

Ew what is this. Canadian patriotism/nationalism please be so expeditiously serious right now !!

Applications are open! 📢 Join us for the 5th Annual Digital IDEAS Summer Institute at @umichdigital.bsky.social(June 23-27, 2025). A week of critical digital studies, activism, & public intellectualism. Apply by March 7, 2024! #DigitalIDEAS2025 🔗 More info: bit.ly/3XgA0Ed

Just to dispel the notion that Substack is the cheapest option for smaller paid newsletters than I described in my first example: ($ amounts represent monthly cost)

In light of everything happening, I wrote about how the KKK in the 1920s felt unstoppable, about the people that fought against them anyway, and about how fascism always fails. dansinker.com/posts/202…

Yes, lol "To be clear, you cannot talk critically about tech empires while partnering with them or taking money from tech firms to work on whatever agenda they developed to subtly realign the goals of your nonprofit, academic lab, country, or region." www.techpolicy.press/ready-for-th...

The news from the US is beyond dystopian. This is a war. Jesus.

In my latest piece for @techpolicypress.bsky.social, I argue that participation without power redistribution is just "participation-washing," a process that absorbs critique without changing outcomes.

My lasting impression from the #AIActionSummit is that civil society is profoundly unprepared and under-resourced to fight against the tide that is govt & private sector investment in AI hype.

TLDR: the AI Action Summit was a hype circus. Buzzword bingo. Macron dancing awkwardly. Silly AI art. A surprising number of FAccTy people! More to come.

I recently gave one of the best talks of my career thus far, and thankfully it was recorded, so I figured I share that here! Thoughts/ideas/questions welcome! scs.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Page...

There is an absolutely vital article, or perhaps book, that could be written about the development of the Left from a political project into an internet-based youth subculture and academic sub-discipline. Everyone would hate it.

EXCLUSIVE: France, Germany, and the Netherlands are set to publish a paper later this week asking not only to cover AI and cloud services under the #DMA but also to update the DMA's list of obligations & introduce a supervisory fee for gatekeepers. www.mlex.com/mlex/article...

“AI for everyone” (with the exception of some cases) means surveillance, tracking, manipulation, loss of agency & choice, for the many and more power, money and influence to AI developers and vendors

So. The #AIActionSummit was an egregious display of technocrat AI hype and the state of political economy of AI in EU. The women & gender panel barely touched on anything other than representation of women in AI, except for @meredithmeredith.bsky.social highlighting the crucial nature of privacy.

This morning I discussed AI + environmental concerns + organising with bright women in civil society. Then my brilliant Head of Advocacy and I schemed on Glitch's strategy. I just finalised two reports on a digital misogynoir project, + copy-editing something on the absurd Jamila A. case ✊🏿✊🏿✊🏿

Between Ofcom, SITC, Meta, ThanosTikTok and now DeepSeek, I feel like I a headless tech policy chicken 🥹

I'm gonna need @bsky.app to get better security options for accounts asap because these faceless bot accounts are annoying

leave her alone www.techspot.com/news/106470-...

The bot problem #onhere is tew much. If you have no profile pic, no mutuals and/or bot-style lexicon you'll be getting blocked!

I haven't announced this anywhere...but the Glitch Trustees have appointed me Executive Director. I am thrilled to lead the charity into a new era and vision that is robust in what Black feminist tech policy looks like 😊 glitchcharity.co.uk/a-new-chapte...

Just read that MrBeast is trying to buy TikTok and so is Musk and I really need all social media to cease to exist

Who all is going to the AI Summit in Paris next month? LMK