Antonella Napolitano

Not on my bingo card: Hugh Grant denouncing EdTech companies monetizing children's data AND doing so while replying to a government consultation.

(via Twitter)

@jenpersson.com: a new campaigner in the making?

Next week! On March 4, @womeninmigration.bsky.social r is launching the Spotlight Report on Global Migration 2026 at 14 - 15:30 UTC.

(I will contribute with a short speech on the role of technology both to curb rights and to organize)

Register here: us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

"Europe’s anti-migrant politics has a long history and has built a border-industrial complex and political elite consensus [...]."

Technocracy is a feature, not a bug.

Read Alyna Smith's analysis (or autopsy?) on @tninstitute.bsky.social

www.tni.org/en/article/f...

The Overton window is moving to a different building entirely

More than 600 people have died trying to cross Mediterranean in 2026, UN says Deadliest start to a year in more than a decade, according to the International Organization for Migration

The Italian bishops are right: these deaths are the result of political choices

Trump allies target European NGOs in battle over Big Tech rules Trump allies have waged an aggressive campaign against civil society and academics in the United States. Now, they're setting their sights across the Atlantic, threatening Europe's efforts to rein in ...

MAGA's war on European civil society is escalating. Visa bans for NGO leaders and former EU officials, plus congressional demands for documents - it's all about undermining the Digital Services Act to protect Big Tech.

If Europe doesn't push back hard, "the law is dead."

www.ftm.eu/articles/tru...

Or maybe people feel that this is a "serious" space where you don't talk about this stuff
(twitter, on the other hand...)

Police AI chief admits crime-fighting tech will have bias but vows to tackle it Exclusive: NCA’s Alex Murray says he hopes new £115m police AI centre can limit unfairness found in tools

Well, "he hopes".

The NCA approach to AI in policing seems to be based on thoughts and prayers - for people's rights.

A couple of milquetoast quotes on reducing bias is not cutting it if you then release unsafe tech in the wild to be tested on people.
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

NEW

Land and Expand - how Palantir captured the Ministry of Defence

What a close reading of public domain documents tells us about two concerning contract awards

Detailed post by me, following-up on my FT column

emptycity.substack.com/p/land-and-e...

"During one site visit in early 2025, OpenAI employee Keith Heyde joked with colleagues that he could assess the amount of clay in the soil just by tasting it. Then he crouched down, grabbed a pinch of earth and put it in his mouth. The moment became an inside joke, but it also showed just how determined the team was to understand the locations where they wanted to build data centers. (Heyde left OpenAI a few weeks ago.)"

Incredible reporting from @anissa.bsky.social in @theinformation.com about OpenAI's struggle to get more computing power as Stargate—its $500B data center buildout—has floundered.

theinformation.com/articles/ins...

It also includes this detail. We are in the dirt-eating phase of the AI hype cycle.

Is this what "the Left" should be engaging with, according to some thinkpiece?

Data centers for AI V. food+school for humans, same difference?

Regulate platforms, not children – Commissioner urges caution over social media bans - Commissioner for Human Rights - www.coe.int Strasbourg 23 February 2026

"Banning children’s access to social media, though, shifts the responsibility for safety from the platforms that create the environment to the children who navigate it."

Michael O'Flaherty, Commissioner for Human Rights at @coe.int
www.coe.int/en/web/commi...

Revealed: Government accused of ‘conflict of interest’ over journalist smear inquiry Starmer said Cabinet Office will investigate Josh Simons and Labour Together - but its ministers have received more than £150,000 from the think tank and its directors

🚨 Cabinet Office investigating Labour Together and Josh Simons over campaign to smear journalists

But...ministers overseeing inquiry have received £150,000+ from Labour think tank

Experts and MPs demand 'full independent investigation'

New on D4S: democracyforsale.substack.com/p/revealed-g... 🧵

Five takeaways from an unhinged AI discourse What's behind the feverish AI discourse? Who thinks "AI is fake"? Is "the left" wrong to dismiss AI? Is that even what's happening? What's really going on with AI in 2026.

The AI discourse has been particularly unhinged lately. Here are five things I think are behind it:

www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/five-takea...

There's an italian saying: "a pensare male si fa peccato, ma spesso si indovina," which roughly translates to: "to think badly would be to sin, but very often one gets it right."

Perfect example. It's amazing how quickly Ring admitted this. And it's great to have evidence.

The funny thing is that the lazy article doing the rounds simultaneously demands the Left to engage with AI (in the terms the author deem serious enough) but does not provide any proof that the Right understands AI. They're just willing to take at face value whatever tech companies are saying.

@abeba.bsky.social has a thread responding to some of the claims - there would be more to write but perhaps rebuttals on Substacks have limited use when people are reflecting, on the effects on their lives - and taking action.

(I know, who's gonna think about tech CEOs?)

bsky.app/profile/abeb...

Of course that doesn't mean that everyone doing that votes for a party *on the left* (whatever that means, though of course everything has to be looked with a US lens, right?)

Labor, land and water exploitation, uprooting communities are often associated with the left (and *are* voting issues.)

always find lazy articles that talk about a mythological Left without defining it. Sure, it is easier to write your "three straw-man arguments in a trenchcoat" longform.

If I wanted to be serious for a minute, I'd say: what about the analysis/advocacy/organizing around DATA CENTERS, for example?

I am halfway through and it feels like three straw man arguments in a trenchcoat

Screenshot of a search with the word "thin" on Instagram and a message saying it is associated with sensitive content and suggesting to seek help if struggling

A small thing and a question: a couple of days ago, I messaged my friend @thinink.bsky.social on Instagram and got this as I was typing her name.

It makes sense, of course - I was wondering whether this happens across regions.

( @lucypurdon.bsky.social @evabd.bsky.social do you know more?)

Labour’s migration doom loop The Starmer government risks trapping the United Kingdom in a spiral of discontent and decline

"Without a convincing narrative that goes beyond vague paeans to diversity, Starmer—and the UK—will remain trapped: each attempt to “restore control” undermines the very economic and social foundations on which durable political consent depends."

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/724...

Some of the measures included below.

Embedding detection measures in binding EU legislation would fund, legitimise, expand and standardise them across Europe, and legitimise illegal practices like racial profiling.

🧵"The EU is currently negotiating a Deportation Regulation to expand and normalise immigration raids and surveillance measures across our communities. They want to oblige Member States to “detect” undocumented people"

picum.org/blog/no-to-e...

@picumofficial.bsky.social

🚨 Top UN human rights experts have signed a letter to EU institutions denouncing human rights risks in the EU Deportation Regulation.

This is a damning condemnation of a draconian measure that sees and treats migrants as a threat.

✉️ Read the full letter on spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBas...

Inside the Tony Blair Institute Who really benefits from the former PM’s tech evangelism?

Politics, actually: Powered by Big Tech?

This on TBI funding came out last year - by @petergeoghegan.bsky.social and @maybulman.bsky.social
www.newstatesman.com/politics/202...

Politics, actually:

"When the subject has been raised internally, “the response is usually that it’s Tony’s initiative and we can’t know anything about it because the conversations are so high-level. You just have to trust Tony.”

Full story here:
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/revealed-t...

Administration Coordinator Administration Coordinator   Reports To Operations and Development Manager Status FTE 1.0 - 5 days per week Direct Reports None at this time Location Remote working, based in Malaysia, Thailand or Ken...

📣 IDC is hiring an Administration Coordinator to develop and maintain the administrative and operational systems that support our day-to-day work. Interested? Then apply before Friday 6 March!

👉 idc.bamboohr.com/careers/40?s...

🌍 Full time, remote, based in Malaysia, Thailand or Kenya

Revealed: Tony Blair’s Institute lobbied EU to work with Trump’s Board of Peace in Gaza TBI pushed bloc on US plan for Palestine but internal disquiet on “taboo topic” Gaza grows

Our publication partner Democracy for Sale has a longer story including some background from within TBI about their lobbying on Gaza and the Board of Peace (HT
@lucasamin.bsky.social ) - find their excellent reporting here:
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/revealed-t...

Ep 75 - Senza Segnale. Calvairate, un’isola nella gentrificazione di Milano.

Fuori una nuova puntata di #Newsroom ✨

Ep 75 - Senza Segnale. Calvairate, un’isola nella gentrificazione di Milano. Dai deserti informativi del Mediterraneo alle trasformazioni urbane della periferia sud-est di Milano: chi racconta i territori quando i media scompaiono?

Ascolta la puntata qui 🔽