Take Back The Tech!

Other things you can do:

1⃣ CHECK verified information on the earthquake, relief efforts, and trusted donation channels to grassroots-level coordination efforts.

2⃣ LEARN about the situation: www.myanmarearthquakehelp.com/en

3⃣ DONATE through our verified local partners (h/t @apc.org)

Myanmar earthquake crisis: Learn more and support grassroots relief efforts A powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 7.7 struck the Sagaing region in northwestern Myanmar on 28 March, with tremors that were felt across Myanmar and Thailand. Countless families lost their home...

In the midst of a civil conflict, #Myanmar is facing the after-effects of a powerful earthquake 🇲🇲

Grassroots response is crucial as communities were already vulnerable and resources stretched thin.

Here's how you can help: www.apc.org/en/news/myan...

RT and share widely! @apc.org #MyanmarRelief

"Big Tech almost demands our silence in exchange for the use of their services." PART 1: Interview with DJ Outvertigo Featuring an illustration of the interviewee by Laura Ibanez

So, yes, we are all connected — in this reality, how can you participate in real, tangible ways towards the struggle for Palestinian self-determination?

How can you resist forces that seem too big and vast to take on? (2/2)

#TakeBackTheTech interviews ➡️ takebackthetech.net/blog/big-tec...

AI + tech have been used against Palestinians for a long time now, with Palestine being the “testing ground” for warfare technologies that are then eventually exported around the 🌍

@timnitgebru.bsky.social & others lay bare Palestinian digital realities ⬇️ 1/2
www.dair-institute.org/blog/NoTechF...

@apc.org @palestinestudies.bsky.social @amplifypalestine.bsky.social @eyeonpalestine.bsky.social @pscupdates.bsky.social @ipsc.bsky.social @palestineday.bsky.social @palaction.bsky.social @iwritecoolstuff.bsky.social @notechforapartheid.bsky.social @cendemtech.bsky.social @stopspyingny.bsky.social

"Big Tech almost demands our silence in exchange for the use of their services." PART 1: Interview with DJ Outvertigo Featuring an illustration of the interviewee by Laura Ibanez

So, yes, we are all connected — in this reality, how can you participate in real, tangible ways towards the struggle for Palestinian self-determination?

How can you resist forces that seem too big and vast to take on? (2/2)

#TakeBackTheTech interviews ➡️ takebackthetech.net/blog/big-tec...

AI + tech have been used against Palestinians for a long time now, with Palestine being the “testing ground” for warfare technologies that are then eventually exported around the 🌍

@timnitgebru.bsky.social & others lay bare Palestinian digital realities ⬇️ 1/2
www.dair-institute.org/blog/NoTechF...

@apc.org @politicsgenderj.bsky.social @genderlib.com @ucdgender.bsky.social @cambridgegender.bsky.social @wearequeeraf.com @roomofonesownbooks.bsky.social @queerliblib.bsky.social @bigtechalert.bsky.social @techwomen.bsky.social @emrazz.bsky.social @saranahmed.bsky.social @feministkelly.bsky.social

Text: Call for Pitches Power Narratives - Unmasking Digital Stalkers If you think the term "stalking" has expanded to include new technological tactics and dynamics, we want to hear your perspective. Each contributor will be paid 500 USD upon submission of final entries. Deadline: March 27, 2025 https://genderit.org/resources/call-pitches-power-narratives-unmasking-digital-stalkers On the left are icons of a keyboard and a pen, as well as a computer with the Take Back The Tech! logo on it.

#BlueSky, help us reach the right people!

🚨 We are seeking proposals & pitches for stories, analysis + collective experiences that address digital stalking from an intersectional feminist lens 🏳️‍🌈

🚨 Send pitch (300 words) to genderit_editions@apc.org 📧

🚨 PAID

Details: genderit.org/resources/ca...

Blood stain on the bottom left of the image. Text: Attacking the “honour” or reputation of women human rights defenders puts their lives at risk.

Targeted and mass surveillance of women and queer human rights defenders uses #GenderedDisinformation when it manifests. #CSW69

Their private lives may be used to discredit their work or shame them — but this specific targeting needs to be acknowledged and redressed. (4/4)

Illustrations of a computer setup and a keyboard on the left and right side of the image respectively. Text: [Anti-GBV laws] are used to legitimise disproportionate censorship and surveillance measures, and in some cases are even used against those who invoke them for their protection. When protection becomes an excuse for criminalisation: Gender considerations on cybercrime frameworks Derechos Digitales and APC

Yet anti-surveillance or "protection" cannot become an excuse for governments to create laws that unfairly target freedom of expression.

Anti-cybercrime measures must be grounded in the principles of legality, necessity & proportionality. (3/4)

🔗 www.apc.org/en/pubs/when... 🔗

#WHRDs are at a higher risk of having their private lives used to discredit them. #CSW69

Private actors representing corporate and vested interests also deploy surveillance tech against WHRDs to discredit women and chill free expression. #InternationalWomensDay (2/4) #IWD #IWD2025

Text with illustrations of women in media at the bottom and a surveillance eye on the right: “Dozens of women journalists and human rights defenders in Bahrain and Jordan have had their phones hacked using NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware.” https://theintercept.com/2022/01/18/pegasus-spyware-nso-group-women-activists-journalists/

Emerging technologies harm #WomenHumanRightsDefenders in newer ways.

State-backed military-grade surveillance technology targets #WHRDs to impact their personal & professional lives. #InternationalWomensDay #CSW69

@apc.org's open letter to states: www.apc.org/en/pubs/open... (1/4) #IWD #IWD2025

Blood stain on the bottom left of the image. Text: Attacking the “honour” or reputation of women human rights defenders puts their lives at risk.

Targeted and mass surveillance of women and queer human rights defenders uses #GenderedDisinformation when it manifests. #CSW69

Their private lives may be used to discredit their work or shame them — but this specific targeting needs to be acknowledged and redressed. (4/4)

Illustrations of a computer setup and a keyboard on the left and right side of the image respectively. Text: [Anti-GBV laws] are used to legitimise disproportionate censorship and surveillance measures, and in some cases are even used against those who invoke them for their protection. When protection becomes an excuse for criminalisation: Gender considerations on cybercrime frameworks Derechos Digitales and APC

Yet anti-surveillance or "protection" cannot become an excuse for governments to create laws that unfairly target freedom of expression.

Anti-cybercrime measures must be grounded in the principles of legality, necessity & proportionality. (3/4)

🔗 www.apc.org/en/pubs/when... 🔗

#WHRDs are at a higher risk of having their private lives used to discredit them. #CSW69

Private actors representing corporate and vested interests also deploy surveillance tech against WHRDs to discredit women and chill free expression. #InternationalWomensDay (2/4) #IWD #IWD2025

Text with illustrations of women in media at the bottom and a surveillance eye on the right: “Dozens of women journalists and human rights defenders in Bahrain and Jordan have had their phones hacked using NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware.” https://theintercept.com/2022/01/18/pegasus-spyware-nso-group-women-activists-journalists/

Emerging technologies harm #WomenHumanRightsDefenders in newer ways.

State-backed military-grade surveillance technology targets #WHRDs to impact their personal & professional lives. #InternationalWomensDay #CSW69

@apc.org's open letter to states: www.apc.org/en/pubs/open... (1/4) #IWD #IWD2025

Plus — and this is important — #ArtificialIntelligence is also used for surveillance by governments and private actors, targeting #HumanRightsDefenders across the world.

If an AI system carries a high risk for human rights, there need to be safeguards in place. (4/4) #IWD #IWD2025

And just because we can use #AI for certain processes, doesn't mean we should.

Such as: Policing. Judiciary. Welfare. Warfare.

We cannot #TakeBackTheTech unless there is a strong & robust framework for protecting our collective human rights around #ArtificialIntelligence. (3/4) #IWD #IWD2025

A.I. needs to be transparent, diverse, representative, inclusive

The answer lies in the data that is used to train them and the team that creates them.

Teams that are not well-represented, for example: all male, all white, all heterosexual — will undoubtedly design systems that do not reflect the common spectrum of experiences. (2/4) #IWD #IWD2025

Artificial intelligence is a feminist issue.

#ArtificialIntelligence is evolving to become a part of our daily lives — it is now more enmeshed than it ever was.

It creates photographs, videos and text... and women's images are made to look "sexy", while prejudices remain constant in many answers. (1/4)

Thread ⬇️ #CSW69 #IWD #IWD2025

Text with icons of social engagement on the side and a switch off button at the top: “Facebook could do much more and shut these pages down but so long as they continue to profit from the reach and engagement, they don’t seem to be interested in decisive action.” - Mehreen Faruqi, Australia’s first female Muslim senator 'Inside the hate factory: how Facebook fuels far-right profit' (The Guardian, 2019)

Digital platforms must be held accountable for prioritising engagement and profit over the harm caused by divisive and hateful content to people on the ground — people who are its "users".

#BigTech can't just use "digital literacy" as a Get Out Of Jail card. #CSW69 (4/4) #IWD #IWD2025

An illustration about gendered disinformation is in the outline of a computer screen. Text: State-led gendered disinformation campaigns have been used to silence and deter women in politics from speaking out all over the world, “in some cases with the aid of a “cyber militia,” in addition to ordinary internet users. Undermining Democracy: Gendered Disinformation as an Early Warning System Take Back The Tech!

But it's not just a woman's issue. It has larger consequences for how our societies function.

Tech-facilitated #GBV like #GenderedDisinformation drastically undermines the free and fair functioning of democracies by chilling free expression.

Read: takebackthetech.net/blog/undermi... (3/4) #IWD

Text with an illustration of eyes looking sideways: “The perpetrators are well aware of the effects on women. Their aim is to discredit, discourage and silence women, to “frame them as untrustworthy, unintelligent, emotional/angry/crazy, or sexual.” - Marie Lamnech (Centre for International Governance Innovation)

Newer technologies mean newer ways of expressing the same old hierarchies.

#OnlineGBV spreads faster and has more longevity, but stems from the same intentions — to discredit women, limit their public space, and threaten their safety. #CSW69 (2/4) #IWD #IWD2025

Text with a Twitter logo: On average, women receive abusive or problematic tweets once every 30 seconds. Women of colour are more impacted than their white counterparts, and Black women are disproportionately targeted. - Charting the Future: Revisiting Beijing's Commitments in the Digital Era Hija Kamran

Calling all #WomenHumanRightsDefenders!

As #tech continues to evolve, women (esp. #WHRDs) stay at an increased risk of technology-facilitated GBV, like:
🧲 doxxing
🧲 non-consensual sharing of intimate images
🧲 sexualised deep fakes
🧲 online stalking

Thread ⬇️ (1/4) #CSW69 #IWD #IWD2025

Text along with an image of an arm rising up with tattoos around women and visibility: Both states and private corporations need to be more attentive to providing access that enhances the human rights to privacy, confidentiality, security and safety.

To increase meaningful access and combat unequal access, governments and private actors must step in.

States must put #PeopleOverProfit.

Tech corporations need to create space & respond to the wants and needs of women, queer + disabled persons. (4/4) #IWD2025 #IWD

🔗 genderit.org/FPI-paper-on...

Text along with an image of a computer and a cursor: Community networks are computer-based systems organised in a grassroots fashion to provide a viable alternative to, or support, government and corporate-owned internet networks for consumers.

Factors that affect the gendered #DigitalDivide:

🛜 affordability
🛜 quality of service
🛜 availability
🛜 relevance
🛜 access to internet equipment and security

In a world where #internet access is so tightly bound by governments & corporations, #CommunityNetworks help. (3/4) #IWD2025 #IWD

Image of a South Asian woman looking at her phone. Text: Only 24% of leadership roles in technology are filled by women. - World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Report of 2022 (data collected from 155 countries)

Being online is good, but it's not enough. #IWD2025 #IWD

Until and unless women & queer persons are included in the use, design, management and governance of digital technologies, meaningful access to the internet will not be achieved. (2/4)

Image with FPI Access logo and text: “A feminist internet starts with enabling more women and queer persons to enjoy universal, acceptable, affordable, unconditional, open, meaningful and equal access to the internet."

Guess what: Many women and queer folks don't have real access to the internet, even when they are connected to it. #FeministPrinciplesOfTheInternet

If your connection is monitored, threatened, and/or secret, it's not real access.

So, then — what is? Thread ⬇️ (1/4) #CSW69 #FPI #IWD2025 #IWD

“I Learned How to Say No” The 175-page report, “‘I Learned How to Say No’: Labor Abuses & Sexual Exploitation in Colombian Webcam Studios,” exposes working conditions in webcam studios in Bogotá, Cali, Medellín, and Palmira, w...

Feminised labor, anti-sex work stigma, the informal economy & the platform-mediated gig-economy makes webcamming a ready site for multiple forms of labor exploitation. @hrw.org

#InternationalDayToEndViolenceAgainstSexWorkers #TakeBackTheTech 3/3

www.hrw.org/report/2024/...