Luminate

Ensuring that the design, development, and use of technology respect human rights and social justice is a critical issue of our time.     At Luminate, we’re continuing to evolve to meet this challenge.    By 2026, all our work will focus on challenging the unchecked harms and outsized power of Big Tech, social media platforms, and AI companies – especially where they disproportionately affect marginalised people.    From climate change to gender rights to racial equality, we want to ensure our future is one where technology works for, and not against, people and society.    Read more here: https://lnkd.in/dtxtP_W3

If you've experienced migration, displacement, or occupation and have a vision for how technology can support mobile communities, the Migration Technology Monitor Fellowship is your platform. Our partner Migration & Technology Monitor (MTM) is seeking fellows who can transform their personal journeys into powerful technological solutions. Importantly, MTM believes those most impacted by migration technologies should lead conversations about them. The fellowship offers $30,000, mentorship, and a collaborative community committed to border and migration justice. Learn more and apply by 31 December: https://lnkd.in/diUQtYQV

Luminate is providing a $1 million grant to the European AI & Society Fund to advance its work in ensuring that AI is developed and deployed in Europe in ways that prioritise the public good, human rights, and social justice. AI policy is at a critical moment in Europe, with significant strides in AI and technology regulation made through landmark legislation such as the #AIAct, the #DigitalServicesAct, and the #DigitalMarketsAct under the EU’s last five-year mandate. As the EU begins a new political cycle, the Fund will focus on equipping civil society to ensure these regulatory frameworks deliver meaningful accountability and reflect the needs of people in Europe, as well as start to reimagine ways in which technologies could be used to promote fair, inclusive and sustainable societies. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/eZt2mZ8H

As Ghana approaches a critical presidential election on 7 December, sophisticated digital manipulation tactics have entered the scene. As covered in our elections series with Rest of World, the rating system NewsGuard has identified a network of 171 bot accounts leveraging ChatGPT to flood X with politically charged content, marking what researchers call "the first secretly partisan network using AI to influence elections in Ghana." These accounts operate with clockwork precision, generating AI-written posts that amplify right-wing political messaging while attacking opposition candidates. This comes at a particularly sensitive time for Ghana, where election-related violence claimed eight lives in 2020. Read the full story from Caroline Haskins: https://lnkd.in/e46k-MvV

A recent investigation by our partner Forbidden Stories reveals a sophisticated Russian disinformation strategy in Africa, centred around an organisation called Africa Politology. By recruiting local journalists, staging protests, and controlling media narratives, these operatives create a parallel reality that serves geopolitical interests. Journalist Ephrem Yalike's testimony provides unprecedented insight into these complex influence operations, and his courageous escape and willingness to expose these tactics underscore journalism's critical role in confronting global information warfare strategies. Read the full investigation here: https://lnkd.in/d79jyUtX

Luminate News — Our Board Chair today announced that Melanie Hui will take over from our founding CEO Stephen King on 1 January 2025.   Melanie has been with Luminate for five years leading our work in Asia and most recently implementing a global strategy review.   “Melanie is an experienced leader in philanthropy and throughout her career has worked to advance the rights of people and communities around the world,” said Luminate Board Chair Pat Christen.   Melanie said: “Together with the incredible team at Luminate, and our more than 200 partners, I look forward to leading our efforts to ensure that the design, development, and use of technology respects human rights and social justice.”   Stephen, who is leaving to pursue new opportunities after nearly seven years as CEO, establishing Luminate and funding and supporting more than 500 organisations, said: “Now is the right time to be handing the reins over to Melanie to take this work forward, and I am so pleased that the Board has chosen such a strong candidate from within Luminate.”

How can tech and democracy programs better serve the needs and challenges of Global Majority countries? Tomorrow at 10am EST, join Luminate's Dinita Andriani Putri for an online event launching an important new study entitled, "Custom Built / Feito Sob Medida: Reforming Tech and Democracy Programs for the Global Majority." Coordinated by the Global Technology for Social Justice Lab (GloTech) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and researchers from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, the report shares lessons from a yearlong research project involving tech accountability advocates, journalists, and academics working in the tech and democracy space across 13 countries. It sheds light on cross-border challenges in combating misinformation and explores what Global North researchers and activists can learn from their counterparts in countries with longer histories of authoritarian backsliding. Register for the webinar here: https://lnkd.in/e2EnNbRp

Since becoming a Luminate partner in 2018, R3D: Red en Defensa de los Derechos Digitales has achieved significant milestones to protect digital rights in Latin America – notably their collaborative research "Ejército Espía," which exposed the Mexican government's use of spyware like Pegasus against activists and journalists: ejercitoespia.r3d.mx Their findings and recommendations have been included in CIDH_IACHR reports, and R3D's advocacy led to commitments in Mexico's Open Government Partnership Action Plan to establish oversight on surveillance. Learn more about R3D at r3d.mx and in the carousel below.

This week, I spoke on my first online panel as an author and lived experience campaigner. Whilst I’m pretty comfortable talking about my dislike for tech bros and why addictive algorithms are causing us harm, this event with Just Treatment was the first time I’ve ever spoken about losing a loved one to online harms. It’s something I’ve felt scared about since starting my book, because writing is one thing, but speaking about openly and vulnerably about loss and trauma is something totally different. It’s easier to lock it all in a box and keep pushing on, without thinking too much into why you do what you do. But when an audience member asked at the end, how we can make the public more aware of the harms that are already happening because of Big Tech’s greed, I instinctively answered ‘people’s stories’. It was a full circle moment, that reminded me why I’ve written Logging Off in the first place, and why I’ve decided to share my story. Telling our own stories always feels more intimidating, because it demands vulnerability and putting yourself in a position where you could attract judgement, shame or critique. But what can come of it is compassion, empathy, movement building - and all of those things are so much more powerful. Thank you to Just Treatment and Luminate for hosting such an important conversation and to the other incredible speakers Lisa Dittmer, Grace Ansell and Behind Our Screens!

Luminate is providing a $1.5 million grant to a consortium led by Privacy International.   Global conflict is often driving significant – and harmful – tech innovation at the expense of human rights. The line between 'defence' and 'civilian' tech is increasingly blurred, with governments and tech companies collaborating in ways that raise serious ethical concerns. This project will support strategic interventions and partnerships to scrutinise and challenge these.   Over two years, this project aims to build a trans-regional and cross-sectoral coalition to challenge the spread of repressive technology and its misuse by governments.    Privacy International will coordinate civil society organisations, academics, and investigative journalists to better understand and address the convergence between civilian and military technology. By mobilising a diverse cluster of organisations, this project aims to conduct targeted research and advocacy, develop governance frameworks, and build collective capacity to demand accountability from tech companies and government   "Our hope is that this project can help disrupt the way in which war and conflict tend to dictate the design of technology in our societies," says Luminate's Isadora Mota do Amaral. "This is a crucial exercise in field-building, ecosystem development, and collective learning. Building civil society's strength on these issue is an essential goal of itself."   Visit privacyinternational.org to learn more about the impactful work of Privacy International and its partners.