Toppling Big Tech

Key to toppling Big Tech is building knowledge and awareness among civil society and policymakers, particularly in the Global South. To that end, we engaged with allies to connect the dots between digitalisation and labour rights, environmental justice and feminism. At the Global Youth Forum on Youth Employment and Decent Work, coordinated by young workers’ representatives of the Global Union Federations, we discussed the relationship between digitalisation and decent work with some 150 people. And at an expert dialogue, ‘Worker Data Rights in the Digital Economy’, organised by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and IT for Change, we discussed trade union organising and digital economy policy developments in Latin America. The dialogue was attended by EU policymakers, as well as representatives from European trade unions, civil society organisations and researchers. At a hybrid event, Ecologist dialogues, organised by Acción Ecológica and attended by some 50 people, we turned our attention to the intersection between digital technologies and the environment. A new briefing paper on the topic looked at the environmental impacts of the e-commerce agenda. Finally, we engaged with feminist economists and digital rights activists, including in the online roundtable ‘Claiming the Cyborgian dream in the AI Paradigm: Co-constructing an Agenda for Feminist Digital Justice’. The roundtable was organised by our ally ITforChange at RightsCon, the biggest digital human rights event worldwide.

Digital trade

Building on our extensive expertise on trade, TNI sounded the alarm about the threats of current e-commerce negotiations, which aim to liberalise cross-border data trade and create a permanent moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions. Proposed digital trade clauses in trade negotiations hinder digital industrialisation, restrict state oversight of corporations, and undermine the rights of people, particularly in developing countries. Such clauses can affect everything from the right to privacy, the nature and functioning of public services, the possibility of economic development and industrialisation, the accountability of government and even the quality of democracy itself.

In 2023, TNI took our analysis and advice directly to policymakers in several key fora. Prior to formal discussion by EU Parliamentarians on the drafting of an EU AI Act, we co-organised a workshop on digital trade in the EU Parliament. In a positive sign, the Parliament subsequently agreed that future legislation should ensure that AI systems are safe, transparent, traceable, non-discriminatory and environmentally friendly.

At the international level, we co-organised a submission on the proposed Global Digital Compact, an initiative of the UN Secretary-General as part of the planned Summit of the Future. The submission was co-authored by our allies in the Global Digital Justice Forum, a multisectoral group of development organisations, digital rights networks, trade unions, feminist groups, corporate watchdogs and communication rights campaigners. In two sessions of the WTO Public Forum, attended by more than 3,000 people from civil society, academia, business, government, international organisations, we shared our analysis on the implications of trade agreements on AI regulation in the Global South and the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. We followed up on these and other key issues in direct meetings with policymakers, in anticipation of the 2024 WTO ministerial conference. We also responded to the decision by the U.S. government to withdraw its support for WTO digital trade proposals. In an article explaining the significance of the decision, TNI called on other countries to follow suit and reject Big Tech’s further accumulation of power in the global economy.

The future of the digital economy was the theme of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) ‘eWeek’ in Geneva, Switzerland in December. TNI organised a session on the environmental impacts of digitalisation regulations and participated in no less than four other panels. Our contributions touched on a range of topics, including digital public infrastructure strategy, international tax reform to make eCommerce work, addressing the gender divide in e-commerce and the implications of emerging technology regulations on digital trade negotiations. The sessions included a speaker from UNCTAD, among others. Upon invitation, TNI also met several times with the Latin America and the Caribbean department of UNCTAD to discuss developments around digital trade and regulation in the region.

At the national level, TNI participated and spoke in several high-level events in Argentina involving leading government officials and trade union leaders. Our interventions focused on the impact of AI in the world of work and the implications of the digital trade agenda, as well as trends and challenges in international cooperation on personal data protection and artificial intelligence. As a result of our advocacy, the Argentinian government changed its position on the e-commerce customs duties moratorium and invited TNI to advise on its strategies towards the next WTO Ministerial Conference. Meanwhile, some 70 groups from Latin America, signed a letter saying they do not want digital trade rules in the region – the first collective effort in Latin America around the issue of digital trade. TNI co-organised a workshop aimed at building a common agenda among CSOs engaged with digital rights in Latin America, including a focus on digital trade rules.