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BotPopuli

@botpopuli.bsky.social
55 followers 8 following 169 posts

We are an alternative media platform dedicated to looking at all things digital from a social justice and Global South perspective. botpopuli.net

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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
The shutting down of Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT) signals the end of an era. AMT pioneered home-based data annotation and other micro-tasks, providing the labor force that ultimately made today’s AI systems possible. Yet, it is these systems that are now rendering such work obsolete.
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
For years, platform workers have been subject to opaque systems that determine how they are paid, allocated work, monitored, and even deactivated—often with little insight into how these decisions are made.
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Has capitalism really given way to “technofeudalism”? Looking beyond the dominant narratives from the Global North, our latest article examines how digital platforms are embedded in longer histories of imperialism, unequal exchange, labor exploitation, and data extraction.
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Fresh off the press for 'Knowledge Futures' on Bot Populi. A series that asks what it means to govern Artificial Intelligence for the cultural commons beyond intellectual property.
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
In her latest essay for Bot Populi, Bama Athreya draws a sharp line between today's AI adoption push and older colonial patterns: cultural conversion, dependency, and the quiet erasure of inconvenient knowledge.
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Here's what caught our attention this month. 📩 This edition's Sins & Synergies Lounge includes critical essays, investigative reporting, podcasts, and research unpacking the infrastructures of AI, the politics of digital sovereignty, platform labor, and the concentration of Big Tech power.
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
In this article, Isha Bhallamudi, Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University, discusses how women gig workers are pushed out not by a neutral system, but by deliberate managerial choices hidden behind code.
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
When gig workers’ accounts are “deactivated,” platforms often point to the algorithm. But algorithms don’t fire workers — employers do.
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Kenzo Soares Seto, Associate Research Scholar at Yale Law School, shares insights from his new report from the Institute for the Cooperative Digital Economy (ICDE), ‘Platform Cooperativism and the State: Lessons from Brazil’s Public Policies (2023–2026)’.
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Adding to this debate is Rohini Lakshané, a technologist, interdisciplinary researcher, and Wikimedian, weighing in on what she considers the greatest challenge for cultural rights and development justice in the scramble for training data.
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Read 'Knowledge Futures' on Bot Populi. A series that asks what it means to govern Artificial Intelligence for the cultural commons beyond intellectual property.
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
The experiences of ASHAs show a complex algorithmic control embedded in the public sector and welfare work, especially where women work from the margins of formal recognition.
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
But far beyond their monetary compensation, these workers have been tasked with a disproportionately enormous ask: the digitization of the health system of a population of over a billion.
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
ASHA workers across the country have been protesting for better pay, increased incentives, and more recognition for their key role as the backbone of India’s public health system. Just this week, the state of Kerala announced an INR 3000 hike for these community healthcare workers.
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
Ruth Castel-Branco, explores how labor organizing in Africa is adapting to the realities of platform work where solidarity has to be built across apps, algorithms, and isolation. Read more: open.substack.com/pub/datasyn/... #GigWork #PlatformEconomy #LaborRights #FutureOfWork #TechPolicy
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Tea Jarc, Confederal Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), argues that the impact of the groundbreaking EU Platform Work Directive will be determined by its implementation as laws in member states. @teajarc.bsky.social @etuc-ces.bsky.social
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Placed at the faultline between technological change & political choice, platform work has become a crucial battleground within the modern labor movement. What is at stake is not only the future of millions of platform workers across Europe, but the credibility of labor law itself.
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
As AI industries expand globally, many African content moderators and data labelers continue to face exploitative conditions, poor pay, and severe mental health impacts.
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
This timely piece by Anita Gurumurthy and Nandini Chami of @itforchange.bsky.social, traces the international politics behind AI governance, from summit diplomacy to corporate overreach, revealing why the current system falls short of justice and accountability.
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
AI governance isn’t neutral—it’s shaped by power, profit, and geopolitics. From global summits to voluntary “safety” promises, who really decides the future of AI?
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
In our latest piece, Ahlem Faraoun examines how misogyny shapes the creative economy, exposing the harassment, gendered violence, and policing of feminist identities that restrict women’s rights and participation. #OnlineMisogyny #WomensRights #CreativeEconomy
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
As the WSIS+20 process concludes, this article by Anita Gurumurthy and Nandini Chami reflects on what the moment reveals about today’s fractured multilateral landscape, taking stock of two decades of engagement and the path forward for global digital governance.
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
Crypto is no longer just a financial experiment. In this piece, Antulio Rosales unpacks how crypto ecosystems are shaping authoritarian governance—fueling elite capture, weakening regulation, and accelerating today’s political, financial, and environmental crises.
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
Inviting proposals for the final evaluation of the project “Re-wiring India’s Digitalising Economy for Women’s Rights and Well-being.” Deadline: 31 Jan 2026 Learn More: itforchange.net/tenders
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
Our latest article explores the potential political implications of the Stablecoin phenomenon and what it means for the global financial order. Read now: botpopuli.net/stablecoins-...
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
Cautioning against neutral framings of #syntheticdata, the authors remind us that these tools actively shape the worlds we imagine and the inequities we reproduce. Read the full story: botpopuli.net/synthetic-dr...
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
Interrogating the hype around #syntheticdata, the authors reveal how Global South realities—like Brazil’s #PIX—challenge tech-solutionist narratives and spotlight deeper governance gaps. Read the full story: botpopuli.net/synthetic-dr...
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
Our latest piece interrogates the myths of the digital economy and the unequal structures that sustain its global dominance. Read here: botpopuli.net/whither-digi...
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
Cautioning against an uncritical appropriation of the platform model, Vinit Ravishankar makes a case for pushing beyond capitalist fetters whilst envisioning alternative digital futures. Read the full piece here: botpopuli.net/whither-digi...
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
In our latest piece, Dr. Vishwas Satgar unravels the shallow digital futurism at work that conflates digital monopoly interests, human progress, development, and the future.
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
Drawing on a range of critical perspectives from his recent edited volume ‘Digital Capitalism and its Limits: Technotopia, Power and Risk’, Vishwas Satgar carefully untangles the real political stakes of our technocapitalist moment in our latest piece. Read here: botpopuli.net/digital-tech...
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
We are excited to share the latest issue of DataSyn, delving into The Mythology of Platform Capitalism.
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
The fight against AI-generated film isn’t a Luddite rejection of technology, but a defense of the human spirit. Our latest piece positions this fight as a move towards a right to work, to collaborate, to fail, and to create something that bears an undeniable fingerprint.
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
Cinema operates as a form of embodied knowledge production, a practice that depends on the presence of human consciousness engaged in storytelling.
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
⚙️ In our latest piece, Madhulika Tatigotla and Eshani Vaidya expose the hidden costs of convenience, uncovering the exploitative labor practices that continue to define Amazon’s warehouse work. #LabourRights #PlatformEconomy #DigitalCapitalism #WorkersRights #DataSyn #BigTech
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
Don’t miss Nandini Chami in conversation with Susan Sreemala on the stakes for digital justice today! Read More: botpopuli.net/claiming-the...
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
Following up on the dispatches from the WSIS high level event in July, Susan Sreemala caught up with Nandini Chami for a substantive debrief on #WSIS, the #GDC, and the future of #digitaljustice on the international stage. Read Now: botpopuli.net/claiming-the...
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
Have you read Shobhit S.’ transformative proposals for democratic and worker-led digital futures, grounded in collective agency, socio-economic justice, and transnational solidarity? Read now: botpopuli.net/platform-pow...
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
In this second part of the report we published last month, Shobhit S. follows up with a detailed excavation of the political economy of platform work with a framework for mitigating the injustices therein.
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
In these dispatches, some of them reflect on key takeaways from the #WSIS+20 HLE, and what it portends for the future. Red the article: botpopuli.net/dispatches-f...
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
This includes a number of the Global Digital Justice Forum’s members, who continued their determined advocacy agenda, participating in and organizing several sessions in recent weeks.
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
Marking two decades of vigorous activism, this month’s WSIS+20 High Level Event was a significant milestone for many who have long been in the trenches in the struggle for digital justice.
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
In our latest article, Shobhit S. situates the global push for standards on platform work within the broader political economy of platform capitalism and the North-South divides that characterize it. Read the full piece here: botpopuli.net/platform-pow...
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
The ILO is expected to adopt a binding Convention and a non-binding Recommendation at its 2026 conference, with substantive protections for platform workers.
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 18/08/2025
TAAK (2024) examines how surveillance at the workplace impinges on the privacy of workers, bleeding into their everyday lives. Our interview with the filmmaker, Udit Khurana, offers a glimpse into how caste and class further propel these ideas of surveillance capitalism.
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
In our latest piece, writer and director, Udit Khurana discusses his new film, TAAK, which delves into the harms caused by intrusive technologies to workers’ rights, and privacy. Read the full interview here: botpopuli.net/on-taak/
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
In this article,Sally Burch traces the WSIS process through decades of social movement history, revealing its enduring significance for civil society’s struggle for digital justice. #WSIS #DigitalJustice #CivilSociety #InternetGovernance #CommunicationRights #GlobalSouth #TechJustice
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 11/08/2025
Sally Burch reflects on the WSIS process, situating it within decades of social movement history and underscoring its enduring importance for civil society’s fight for digital justice. #WSIS #DigitalJustice #CivilSociety #TechForGood #InternetGovernance #CommunicationRights
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 27/07/2025
In our latest piece, @karishmabanga.bsky.social explores how digital trade governance can entrench asymmetries in global taxation, undermining economic recovery and tax justice in the Global South. Read here: botpopuli.net/trade-rules-...
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BotPopuli @botpopuli.bsky.social · 26/07/2025
Our latest piece features an interview with @karishmabanga.bsky.social as she delves into how digitalization has recalibrated the landscape of taxation and how this change impacts the fiscal autonomy of poorer countries. Read the full story here: botpopuli.net/trade-rules-...
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