Make Elon Musk accountable for not respecting our democracies and rights!

Words by Digital Action

September 2, 2024

8 mins read

Urgent call for international lawmakers to institute new transparency and accountability standards for Big Tech

We, the Global Coalition for Tech Justice and other signatories of this present statement, are alarmed by the escalation of Elon Musk’s war on democratic institutions, reflecting a broader absence of accountability for Big Tech giants. Social media platforms are failing to protect the integrity of our democracies and rights, and escaping all accountability, particularly in the Global Majority far from corporate headquarters. 

Over the past months, Elon Musk has been in a public fight against Brazilian Authorities over requests issued by the country’s Supreme Court for the suspension of hundreds of accounts and posts spreading mis- and disinformation and incitements to violence, including the organization of the Brasilia Riots following the last elections. Despite the requests being made under legally instituted inquiries, X’s CEO has not only refused to suspend accounts and provide information to the court, but he has more recently been taking this fight to a more public stage. 

The casualties of Elon Musk’s actions are Brazilian democratic sovereignty and its citizens in the digital sphere. Since April this year, Musk has stated that X will no longer comply with take down orders issued by the court and in August announced the closing of X’s offices in Brazil. The effect of Musk’s decision would have meant X continuing to monetize its digital services to Brazilian online users, while escaping accountability for failures to comply with Brazil’s democratic laws and institutions. It is unsurprising that Brazil’s Supreme Court is moving to establish a temporary suspension of X in the country, resulting in users having their access to the site restricted. This is a regrettable turn of events arising from a tech CEO’s refusal to be accountable. 

Unfortunately, this is part of a familiar pattern in which Elon Musk defies the law and escapes accountability. Recently, in the UK, X was one of the main platforms involved in the spread of misinformation and hate speech that provoked the onset of racist riots. Musk fanned the flames of the highly volatile situation with inflammatory tweets to his 193 million followers on X and echoed discredited far-right claims against the UK Government. In Australia, Musk partially refused to comply with a global takedown order issued by the eSafety Commission by geoblocking contents exclusively in the country. And in the EU, the European Commission has started formal proceedings against X for breaching the Digital Services Act; Musk is now engaged in a war of words with Commissioner Thierry Breton, which has included crude insults against the EU official. We are concerned that recent regulations in the Global North do not seem to be having a dissuasive effect on Big Tech; this suggests they are not robust enough to deal with the scale and depth of the challenge. 

We are deeply troubled by Elon Musk’s disdain for democratic laws and institutions; his ownership of it, mismanagement and misuse of a leading global social media platform, part of our collective online civic space, is reckless and dangerous. It is clearly generating harm for peace and democracy around the world. 

Sadly, this is symptomatic of the wider absence of accountability for Big Tech giants and their failure to protect the integrity of our information environment and cornerstones of democracy, including free and fair elections. In each major vote during this year’s worldwide election megacycle, we have seen a proliferation of online mis-and-disinformation, hate speech, gender-based harassment and racist violence, amongst other harms. Big Tech giants don’t seem to care, particularly across the Global Majority, furthest from corporate headquarters. 

We call on international policymakers to work together to institute new rules for the transparency and accountability of Big Tech firms, wherever they offer services and influence our ability to enjoy democracy and human rights. This is our demand for global tech justice now. 

*** 

Signatories 

Organizations part of the Global Coalition for Tech Justice

    1. #jesuislà
    2. #MeRepresenta
    3. #ShePersisted
    4. 7amleh – The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media
    5. Africa Sans Haine
    6. AfroLeadership
    7. AI Forensics
    8. Al Bawsala
    9. Aliança Nacional Lgbti+
    10. ALQST for Human Rights
    11. Amandla.mobi
    12. Amnesty International, Kenya
    13. ARIJ
    14. Associação Alternativa Terrazul
    15. Avaaz
    16. Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication
    17. Bareedo Platform Somalia
    18. Beam Reports
    19. Bullyid App – NMA Foundation
    20. Business and Human Rights Resource Centre
    21. Campaign On Digital Ethics (CODE)
    22. Casa Hacker
    23. Center for AI Ethics and Governance in Africa – CAIEGA
    24. Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD)
    25. Center for Legal Support
    26. Centre for Media Research – Nepal
    27. Centro Latinoamericano de Investigaciones Sobre Internet
    28. Check First
    29. Check My Ads
    30. Civic Tech Field Guide
    31. Civil Society Advocacy Network On Climate Change and the Environment Sierra Leone (CAN-SL)
    32. Co – Creation Hub (CcHUB)
    33. Coalizão Negra por Direitos
    34. Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA)
    35. Common Cause Zambia
    36. Common Good Foundation
    37. Community Focus Foundation Ghana (CFF-Ghana)
    38. Conectas Direitos Humanos
    39. Conscious Ad Network
    40. Consortium of Ethiopian Human Rights Organizations (CEHRO)
    41. Council for Responsible Social Media in Kenya
    42. Dante
    43. Daraj Media
    44. Datalat Foundation
    45. Defend Democracy
    46. Democracia em Xeque
    47. DAWN
    48. Desinformante & Aláfia Lab
    49. Digital Access
    50. Digital Citizenship
    51. Digital Humanities Lab (Federal University of Bahia
    52. Digital Rights Foundation
    53. Digital Rights Lab – Sudan
    54. Digital Rights Lawyers Initiative
    55. Disarm Foundation
    56. DUKINGIRE ISI YACU
    57. Ekō
    58. Ethikai
    59. European Partnership for Democracy
    60. Fair Vote UK
    61. FALA
    62. FEMALE Organization
    63. Foresight Generation Club
    64. Friends of Democracy
    65. Friends of the Earth U.S.
    66. Frontiers For Gender Advocacy, Accountability & Empowerment Initiative
    67. Fundación Internet Bolivia
    68. Global Action Plan
    69. Global Digital Citizenship Lab, York University
    70. Great Hope Foundation Malawi
    71. Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR)
    72. Helen Suzman Foundation
    73. Hindus for Human Rights
    74. Hope and Courage Collective
    75. Human Rights Journalists Network Nigeria
    76. HuMENA for Human Rights and Civic Engagement
    77. Hungarian Civil Liberties Union
    78. IDDLAC (Contextual)
    79. India American Muslim Council
    80. India Civil Watch International
    81. Inform Africa
    82. Innovation for Change Middle East and North Africa
    83. INSM for Digital Rights in Iraq
    84. Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD)
    85. Instituto Vero
    86. International Council of Indian Muslims (ICIM)
    87. International Media Support
    88. International Press Institute
    89. IPANDETEC
    90. Itaka International
    91. Jordan Open Source Association (JOSA)
    92. Jordan Transparency Center
    93. Journalists for Human Rights
    94. Judith foundation
    95. Julie Reintjes (Privacy International)
    96. Koneta Hub
    97. Law and Public Policy Center
    98. Lawyers Hub
    99. Legal Dignity
    100. Legal Grounds Institute
    101. Legal Resources Centre
    102. LoveAid Foundation
    103. LOVE-Storm – Together Against Online Hate
    104. Me Representa
    105. Media Alliance of Zimbabwe
    106. Media Monitoring Africa
    107. Misbar
    108. Myanmar Internet Project
    109. National Democratic Institute
    110. Netlab-UFRJ
    111. News Literacy Lab
    112. NOSSAS
    113. Open Britain
    114. Open Knowledge Foundation
    115. Panos Institute Southern Africa
    116. Paradigm Initiative
    117. Pen to Paper
    118. People Vs Big Tech
    119. Pollicy
    120. Real Facebook Oversight Board
    121. REDE NACIONAL DE COMBATE À DESINFORMAÇÃO
    122. Research Tree
    123. Rinascimento Green
    124. Salamat Dz
    125. Samir Kassir Foundation
    126. Sleeping Giants Brasil
    127. SMEX
    128. Social Movement Technologies
    129. SocialTIC
    130. Society for Environment and Education
    131. Stitching The London Story
    132. Tech Global Institute
    133. Tech Justice
    134. Tech4Peace
    135. TEDIC
    136. The African Middle Eastern Leadership Project (AMEL)
    137. The Citizens
    138. The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy
    139. The Visual Activist
    140. Transparency International EU
    141. Ubunteam
    142. Verify-Sy
    143. Webfala Digital Skills for all Initiative
    144. West Africa ICT Action Network
    145. WITNESS
    146. Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET)
    147. YODET
    148. Youth and Society (YAS)
    149. Zambian Cyber Security Initiative Foundation

    Individuals part of the Global Coalition for Tech Justice

    1. Aashka Raval
    2. Amira Galal
    3. Anna Grace Calhoun
    4. Anne Oloo
    5. Anriette Esterhuysen
    6. B.V. Alaka
    7. Bárbara Paes
    8. Bram Fudzulani
    9. Camilla Machuy
    10. Cheryl Akinyi
    11. Cosima Wiltshire
    12. Danielle Novaes
    13. Dima Samaro
    14. Dr. Michael Strautmann
    15. Dr. Simon Kruschinski
    16. Ella Shoup
    17. Eya Oueslati
    18. Fatuma Nyirenda
    19. Francesca Edgerton
    20. Guendalina Simoncini
    21. Idayat Hassan
    22. Ingrid Farias
    23. Karina Mendoza
    24. Karyn Caplan
    25. Keerti Rajagopalan
    26. Kirsten Fiedler
    27. Kyle Taylor
    28. Lotanang Marothe
    29. Luis Serrano
    30. Luise Koch
    31. Luiz Eugenio Scarpino Junior
    32. Manuel Alejandro Baron Romero
    33. Maria Paula Russo Riva
    34. Martin Kapenda
    35. Michaela Nakayama Shapiro
    36. Mostafa Fouad
    37. Nasiru Deen
    38. Natalia Albert
    39. Natalia Zuazo
    40. Nevine Ebeid
    41. OUSSEMA REZGUI
    42. Pablo Nunes
    43. Raymond Amumpaire
    44. Ricardo de Holanda Melo Montenegro
    45. Rima Sghaier
    46. Sam Phiri
    47. Seble G. Workneh
    48. Seongkyul Park
    49. Sev
    50. Tundun Folami
    51. Wathata Kinyua Foundation
    52. Yasmin Curzi

    Other signatories

    1. Movimento Mega
    2. COAR Notícias
    3. Center for the Study of Organized Hate (CSOH)
    4. MíDI – Laboratório de Mídias Digitais e Internet
    5. Plataforma Ocorre Diário
    6. EMERGE-UFF – Centro de Pesquisas e Produção em Comunicação e Emergência
    7. InovaCom-UFPA – Grupo de Pesquisa Inovação e Convergência na Comunicação
    8. Aqualtune Lab
    9. Instituto Nupef
    10. Instituto de Referência em Internet e Sociedade (IRIS)
    11. Oxfam Brasil
    12. Coletivo Digital (CODI SP/Brasil)
    13. Jararaca: Laboratório de Tecnopolíticas Urbanas
    14. LAVITS – Rede Latinoamericana de Estudos em Vigilância, Tecnologia e Sociedade
    15. Pimentalab – Laboratório de Tecnologia, Política e Conhecimento da Unifesp

Share this post

Back to all posts