The Global Coalition for Tech Justice is a global movement to ensure Big Tech plays its role in protecting elections and citizens’ rights and freedoms across the world, particularly in the global majority where companies – Meta, Alphabet/Google, X, and TikTok – have been negligent in dealing with the impacts of their platforms and technologies.
Global Coalition for Tech Justice: Protecting elections globally from Big Tech
Since starting in 2019, Digital Action has gained a unique vantage point on the startling inequity that exists between regions when it comes to protections from harm by tech platforms – from disinformation, hate and incitement to manipulation of democratic processes. We have seen that tech companies headquartered in the global north – and the regulators responsible for them – are negligent when it comes to dealing with the impact of tech on the global majority.
That is why in spring 2022 we refined our strategic focus to build a new movement to center global equity in tech accountability. We tested the appetite for a global campaigning movement with civil society organisations in Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East and North Africa, Latin America, Europe and the USA. Together we co-created the Global Coalition for Tech Justice, which now brings together over 250 organizations and experts across 55 countries, the world’s largest movement devoted to holding tech giants to account.
“We could not do this alone or in isolation because information integrity is a global problem that affects global democracies and demanded a global call for action. Digital Action’s mobilization of civil society actors within the tech accountability space to co-create the Global Coalition for Tech Justice within a short space of time is truly remarkable. The blueprint that sets this coalition apart from others is that it is participatory in nature. There is an equality of voices with no hierarchy of global agendas and there is a platform for mutual sharing of ideas and expertise. This would not have been possible without the convening role that Digital Action has played. We have already seen the impact of being part of this global movement on our domestic and regional advocacy efforts in South Africa and Africa. We feel more confident in our fight against major social media corporations by our involvement in this global solidarity campaign ably coordinated by Digital Action.”
Sherylle Dass, Regional Director of the Legal Resources Centre, Steering Group leader of the Global Coalition for Tech Justice.
The Coalition launched the #yearofdemocracy campaign in favour of equitable and effective tech safeguards for democratic and human rights during the historic elections megacycle of 2024.
“Ad tech companies that are based in the US and Ireland are causing harm in every part of the world. We also know they’ve started to take some action especially on the things that end up in the press - but mitigation and accountability don’t seem to be reaching beyond a handful of wealthy, mostly English-speaking countries. ”
Participant in Digital Action’s global elections roundtable
In 2024, more than 2 billion people were entitled to vote as over 65 elections took place place, in the biggest and most significant year for elections globally this century.
This included some of the world’s largest democracies like the United States, the European Union, India, Mexico and Indonesia, as well as countries descending into dictatorship like Tunisia. But the relentless spread of online disinformation, hate speech, abuse and manipulation undermined efforts to protect democracy and freedoms. We tracked the impacts of tech platforms and technologies throughout the year, and campaigned to hold Big Tech to account.
Who are the members of the Global Coalition for Tech Justice?
The Global Coalition for Tech Justice comprises over 250 organizations and experts across 55 countries, including grassroots to international civil society organizations, journalists, investigative organizations, fact-checkers, technologists and academics (see the full list of members). The coalition is led by a Steering Group with representatives from:
- Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA)
- Digital Citizenship
- The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy
- India Civil Watch International
- Common Cause India
- Legal Resources Centre
- Avaaz
- Conscious Ad Network
- Pollicy
- Council for Responsible Social Media
Digital Action is the coalition convenor and organiser.
Election briefings
We have published briefings on key elections throughout 2024, working with our partners in-country, to analyze the impacts that Big Tech platforms and technologies are having on electoral integrity and human rights across world regions.
Supporting social media monitoring during elections
Big Tech restrictions on access to platform monitoring APIs have prevented many national institutions, civil society organizations, journalists and academics from monitoring the impacts of tech platforms on elections in 2024. In response, we have developed a practical guidebook to social media monitoring during elections for partners and stakeholders, which is available upon request (email campaigns @ digitalaction.co).
Seeding new funding and research into the impacts of social media on elections in the Global Majority
Digital Action partnered with the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) to support research and advocacy on tech accountability in Africa in the “Year of Democracy” in 2024, with the creation of a dedicated tech accountability fund for Africa.
Numerous African countries, including Senegal, Mauritania, Rwanda, Mozambique, Ghana, Algeria, Botswana, Chad, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa, South Sudan and Tunisia, headed to the polls during 2024. The Fund responded to key concerns on growing threats to information and electoral integrity in 2024 and to the scant resources available to African civil society organizations to research and counter tech harms.
Results include Community Fakes, a new crowdsourcing platform to combat AI-generated deepfakes by Global Coalition for Tech Justice member, Thraets.
