May Day 2025 Special Issue
Dear Reader,
One can barely discuss the last month without alluding to how it began. ‘Liberation day’, as it was called, set the tone for the chaotic weeks that have followed. Unveiling a hyper-aggressive regime of massive tariffs across the board, Trump set down his gauntlet for resetting the global order. However, as stock markets tanked, finance moguls and tech barons began to panic, and even the hallowed market of bonds and US treasuries saw turmoil, Trump changed course. He declared a 90-day pause on most of his tariffs, except for those on China. This set the stage for a full-blown trade war between the two superpowers that has been raging ever since.
Whilst this dangerous gambit is purportedly a way to revive the ailing industries of the US, it has also inadvertently become a trial for the cosy alliance between Silicon Valley and the president. Indeed, recent weeks have seen a frenzied tug of war over the shape of this tariff policy - this led to Trump creating an exemption for electronic goods, only to seemingly walk it back within a couple of days. While most tech CEOs have refrained from public criticism, it seems clear that there is considerable trepidation in their ranks. The stock market has been punishing, causing the likes of the Nvidia CEO to fly to Beijing to protect business relationships, as Elon Musk also began distancing himself from the Whitehouse to attend to Tesla’s cascading crisis. Meanwhile, Apple rushed to airlift millions of iPhones from India to circumvent the tariffs. As China ramps up economic aggression of its own - reciprocal tariffs, blowing up the TikTok deal, banning the export of rare-earth minerals - it will be worth tracking how Big Tech handles this disruption of its global supply chains.
Parallel to these financial and logistical troubles, however, this month also saw the crosshairs of antitrust fix once more upon Silicon Valley’s giant monopolies. The landmark case against Google returned for its remedy hearing in April, with the courts poised to make a ruling on what actions are needed to ensure fair competition in the search and advertising sectors. The US Justice Department continues to push for radical measures, including the breaking up of Google’s businesses. In response, the company is appealing to try and get a more lax set of reforms. With a verdict likely in a matter of weeks, this will be a critical moment for gauging the climate of juridical opinion.
This is especially relevant for other cases that are soon to take centre stage. In fact, the Federal Trade Commission has just filed a major antitrust litigation against Meta, claiming that its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp were hostile takeovers of potential competitors. Based on the type of actions that are proposed for redressal, a negative result for the company could be a significant blow to its social-media dominance.
Additionally, there are signs that the tariff bullying may be pushing countries to tighten their legal scrutiny on Big Tech, too. Unlike last month, the EU has now officially ruled out loosening its regulatory stance on Big Tech as a strategy to secure a trade deal with the United States. Instead, it has announced a major boost of staff and resources for the teams pursuing ongoing investigations as part of its Digital Services Act. At the same time, a new probe has also been launched around potential GDPR violations by X, in the use of user posts to train its AI chatbot. Japan has joined the fray, with its local antitrust authority ruling that Google’s preference for its search engine on Android phones constitutes a breach of anti-monopoly laws. If such a wave of litigation begins to see success, it may well further the appetite for such interventions in other jurisdictions as well.
Shifting to the Global South, it is a volatile period for nations that had begun to steer the development of their own local digital economies. It seems clear that the US is banking on its alliances to extract concessions, with Tech looming large in the discussions. Recent reports indicate that, in its talks with India, for instance, the US has already asked for rollbacks of protectionism on tech, such as deregulation in the e-commerce space. Similarly, Vietnam was initially keen to reconcile with the American establishment, but given its meetings with Beijing, it is now caught between both superpowers pulling in opposite directions. Brazil meanwhile, is trying to strike a balance between carrots and sticks, offering concessions whilst also exploring alternative trade partners and threatening retaliation on Tech in particular. However, these countries play their cards will help shape the balance of power in the new equilibrium of economic order that is to emerge. Countries in the South should keep this in mind, especially as they face the brunt of the financial chaos that persists.
Finally, on the labor front, we wanted to draw attention to a remarkable new initiative that maps the hidden networks of the data-work industry. Focussing on Africa, it traces how these workers are linked via chains of sub-contracted firms and labyrinthine legal channels to large platforms in the US, Europe, and Asia. Spanning nearly 40 countries, these cartographies reveal the human underside of our social media interfaces and AI chatbots. The initiative also provides a wealth of information on the lives and conditions of these invisible workforces, how they found their way into the pipelines of data annotation/content moderation, and the kinds of repression they face in their precarity. This is a critical resource for those of us trying to puncture the glossy narratives of the AI industry and demand justice for those who have been subject to its exploitation.
In the spirit of this initiative and others like it, this year, our special Mayday edition of DataSyn also puts the spotlight on data-workers. From critical reflections, to artistic practice, to the voices of these workers themselves, this month we bring you a series of perspectives from this crucial site of labor struggle today. Our first piece recounts the experiences of the Data Workers' Inquiry's core team, drawing important lessons about the contemporary conditions of the sector. Our second and third pieces chart new territory for DS, as we go straight to the source and get some powerful stories from workers themselves. Our fourth piece engages a filmmaker for a thoughtful discussion on data-work in the South. Finally, as a bonus feature, we bring you an investigation into the content-creator economy from the standpoint of labor.
The Datasyn Team
DIGITAL DISSENT
The Data Workers’ Inquiry - Lessons Learned
Laurenz Sachenbacher
In 1880, Karl Marx initiated the Workers’ Inquiry, a novel and unprecedented research project, inviting industrial workers to participate in producing first-hand accounts of the capitalist system and their place within it. The ‘Data Workers' Inquiry’ is a renewal of this project for the age of AI. Laurenz Sachenbacher reflects on the factors that motivated this undertaking and the critical insights that have emerged from its first phase.
Read on.
VOICE OF THE PEOPLE
The Algorithm’s Ghost Workers and the Illusion of Opportunity
Fasica Berhane
What is it like to be a content moderator in the midst of violent civil war and ethnic strife? What is the price one pays for such labor, and what might be the ways in which it could be reorganized in a genuinely humane and thoughtful manner? Fascia Berhane grapples with these questions, drawing on her own experiences from the field
Read on.
VOICE OF THE PEOPLE
From Soweto to Nairobi Tech Hub Dirty Laundry: My Journey Through the Algorithm
Botlhokwa Ranta
The masses that carry out data work feature obscurely, if at all, in the public imagination. As a result, there is little appreciation of the sheer weight of historical forces that these workers confront in diverse parts of the globe, and how this odd, placeless industry fits into the harsh, turbulent circumstances that they inhabit. Botlhokwa Ranta recounts her own valiant struggle to secure a better life for herself and her daughter.
Read on.
THE NEW DIVERGENCE
On Humans in the Loop
Susan Sreemala in conversation with Aranya Sahai
The film 'Humans in the Loop' tells the story of an adivasi woman in India’s state of Jharkhand, who, in the aftermath of a personal upheaval, decides to take up the enigmatic new job of becoming a data labeller. Susan Sreemala caught up with the film’s director, and together they reflect on the unique questions the film brings up about the nature of data work, the promise of such work for women like the protagonist, and what it means to tell such stories.
Read on.
PROLETARIAT MATTERS
Social Media is Someone’s Office
Sadhana Sanjay
Content-creation, for all its fanfare today, remains fairly understudied as a form of labor. Influencers and content creators also navigate a tyrannical algorithm, and the complex political economy of attention that comes with it. Sadhana Sanjay takes a step behind the facade, and inquires about the workers’ lives underneath.
Read on.
The Sins & Synergies Lounge
Tune into Manila Community Radio or Radio Alhara for a conversation with tech saboteurs, trade unionists, and cultural workers at 10:00 AM UTC on 4 May 2025, commemorating the 25th anniversary of ILOVEYOU or The Love Bug. This infamous computer worm from the year 2000 that caused billions of dollars of damage worldwide was initially developed with the purpose of stealing internet access passwords to distribute connectivity for users who couldn’t afford it.
Explore SOMO’s recently launched Big Tech M&A tracker, which lists transactions in which Big Tech companies acquired other companies, an invaluable resource for activists, academics, and journalists.
Also check out Thabo Motshweni’s reality check on the AI hype from South Africa with important lessons on the impact of AI in the financial sector, on retail work, and on the energy crisis.
Don’t miss Public Citizen’s sharp analysis of the Big Tech interests vested in Trump’s tariffs against retaliating to public interest regulations imposed by foreign countries
Check out Civicus’ new report analysing the realities, challenges, and opportunities facing civil society organisations (CSOs) working in the Global South to strengthen citizen action and promote inclusive democracy in the digital age.
Add to your reading list this new series of essays on how communities have addressed the unequal power dynamics between technology production and deployment, and how tech impacts people’s everyday lives and the environment around them.
The Global Digital Justice Forum (GDJF) has released a powerful Call to Action for WSIS+20 and Beyond. The call outlines the imperative for WSIS +20 review and other global digital cooperation processes to deliver on key agendas for digital justice. Learn more and endorse the call here.
Post-script
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