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Now that mostly white people sharing their expert views talking about how online threats can turn into offline violence, I want to remind y’all, digital Rights activists from global south have been saying this for many years - this is our lived experience every single day online.
Amused to see now white folks are saying the same stuff on content moderation of course in better articulate way with lots of academic jargons & it took white men running these tech giants to see capitol incident to take “drastic” step but would this be the same in our countries?
Most global south digital rights activists are caught between a rock & a hard place, on one hand their work is threatened in their own countries, and on the other hand, they have to call truth to power to platform that don't see themselves accountable to users in their countries.
Platforms often apply different standards/policies to global south countries, while at the same they often capitulate to oppressive govts when their bottom line is in jeopardy.
The threshold of engagement is very high where global south organizations are expected to share massive data sets in order to engage with the policy teams.
This prohibitively blocks many CSOs from equitably engaging in policy & was certainly not expected from US counterparts.
This prohibitively blocks many CSOs from equitably engaging in policy & was certainly not expected from US counterparts.
Our relationship with those in privilege is extractive & replicates power imbalances & old colonial relationships in which knowledge and data is extracted from organizations in the global south & used by platforms & Int orgs to publish & do policy work, that affects all of us.
There is an incredible opportunity now for everyone working on digital rights to take the lessons of the American crisis.
Now is the time to collaborate transnationally as this problem won’t be solved by country silos but in conversations that help build a global plan of action.
Now is the time to collaborate transnationally as this problem won’t be solved by country silos but in conversations that help build a global plan of action.
