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They want to join forces and change TikTok. Around 1,000 creators have formed an alliance. One focus is discrimination against marginalized groups. In an interview, project manager Amelia Som tells why she loves TikTok – and where TikTok fails.

How can sexualized violence against minors be quantified? Many misleading figures are circulating – and on the basis of these figures politicians are calling for more surveillance. An analysis of the biggest misunderstandings.

Many young workers delivering food or driving cars are technically not even employed. How can a trade union work to improve their conditions? Tea Jarc, president of Slovenian union Mladi Plus, has worked for years advocating for them. And she has seen enough to be afraid of the platform companies’ lobbying power.

White hand with USA flag taking a shiny raw metall from a small black hand

Although neither smartphones nor many electric cars would work without cobalt, workers mining the precious raw material in Congo live a dangerous life. Some families of deceased workers tried to fight back, but it is hard to hold tech companies like Tesla or Apple accountable. Part 4 in our series on Digital Colonialism.

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netzpolitik.org is a medium for digital freedom rights. Most of our work is published in German, but sometimes translate articles into English. We address important issues concerning the Internet, society and politics, and show ways in which people can also use the net to advocate for digital freedom rights themselves.

We critically accompany all areas of society in processes of digitalization: from big data corporations to security agencies to education, media and the environment. We want to put technological change at the service of freedom, solidarity and the common good.

Our stance is: We are committed to digital freedom rights and their implementation. We have received several awards for our work.

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Unfair tax laws help Facebook, Google and Microsoft save billions in taxes in the global south – enough to employ 1.7 million nurses in 20 countries within three years. Part 3 of our series on Digital Colonialism.

The European Union debates a new law that could force platforms to scan all private messages for signs of child abuse. Its most prominent advocate is the actor Ashton Kutcher.

Western tech firms are outsourcing tasks like data labeling or content moderation to countries in the Global South. They are pitting off poor workers against each other – on a global scale. Part 2 of our series on digital colonialism.

Facebook has entered a deal with India’s largest corporation, Reliance Industries, in a bid to monopolize the entire food supply chain in India. This deal could put the food security of more than 820 million people at risk. Part 1 of our series on digital colonialism.

Crypto’s voracious appetite for electricity is causing alarm in Brussels. Behind closed doors, the European Commission and the German government are talking about countermeasures. We publish documents that show how the EU could ban Bitcoin.

The Meduza team together in one room. The picture is heavily pixelated.

The news website Meduza was among the last independent reporters for Russia. At the beginning of March the website was blocked in Russia. There are also problems with funding. We talked with Katerina Abramova about the work in exile and the future of Meduza.

House in Prague - address of the world's largest porn empire.

The world’s most visited porn site operates in the heart of Europe. Survivors of sexualized violence are raising serious accusations against XVideos. The trail of XVideos leads to the Czech Republic, France – and Germany.

Person hides behind raised hand, black background, red banner reads "content removal"

„Knocked out and fucked“: On XVideos clips dealing with rape are automatically recommended. Anonymous uploads raise doubts about whether recordings are consensual. Our research reveals how sexualized violence can spread on the platform.

Today, it is possible to observe crises unfold in unprecedented detail. A global community systematically evaluates publicly available information of all kinds and feeds it into the news flow. We spoke with someone involved as a volunteer for more than a decade.

The social media platform officially confirms that Max Otte violated the ban on political advertising several times. This was apparently possible because it did not properly control the advertisements.

Times Square, New York, colourful ad displays

As the era of cookie tracking is about to end, a new battle for control over the billion dollar adtech business has begun. An astonishing partnership between non-profit Mozilla and surveillance capitalist Meta is only a small chapter of a bigger story, argues Michael Veale. For the next phase of online advertising could be even worse.

When the Hungarian data protection authority concluded their investigation into the Pegasus scandal last week, they came to a surprising result: The surveillance of journalists and lawyers was supposedly legal, but those who helped uncover it should be investigated. Áron Demeter, head of Amnesty Hungary, talks about loopholes in the Hungarian judicial system.

To this day the German Federal Criminal Police Office BKA and other law enforcement agencies fail to systematically remove content from darknet forums where child abuse material is shared. Leading investigators claim it is more important to find the perpetrators. Is that really mutually exclusive?

Apple forces developers give clear privacy information to app users. But according to new research, four out of five tested apps that claim to not collect data from users actually do.

A scandal involving racial discrimination in the verification of childcare benefit claims continues to rock the Netherlands. Now the government accepts a fine in the millions. It is probably the first case in which a government has had to pay for data-based discrimination against citizens.

Star investor and Republican donor Peter Thiel thinks that competition is for losers. His radical views have shaped Silicon Valley.

Fighting the dissemination of child sexual abuse material, the EU Commission is considering dangerous measures: the automated search of content on mobile phones and computers. See answers to the key questions regarding „chat control“ in our overview.

The tech giant told Commission officials in a recent closed meeting that developers of Artificial Intelligence tools should not be overburdened with regulation.

Documents reveal the lobbying push by Microsoft, Google and other tech giants to influence secretive trade talks that could change the future of the internet.

A new law will abolish Austria’s official secrecy and give the country its first real freedom of information law. But the government’s proposal has many weaknesses, according to experts of the NGO Access Info.

TOCA: TikTok creators unite against opaque rules

NCMEC figures explained: How the spectre of millionfold abuse haunts European policy-makers

Platform work: “Fight for something more than just a Directive”

Series on Digital Colonialism: The bloody footprint of our digital devices

Who we are

We are financed by donations!

Contact

Series on Digital Colonialism: Western tech companies saving billions in taxes in the global south

Dude, where's my privacy?: How a Hollywood star lobbies the EU for more surveillance

Series on Digital Colonialism: Global labor chains of the western AI

Series on Digital Colonialism: How Meta aims to dominate India’s agriculture sector

Climate measures: Behind closed doors, EU officials talk about banning Bitcoin

Russian exile medium Meduza: „Everything has changed dramatically“

XVideos: The porn empire next door

World's largest porn site: How XVideos does very little against sexualized violence

OSINT in the Ukraine: Putting the Pieces in Place

Violation of Twitter’s ban on political ads: No consequences for far-right presidential candidate

Future of online advertising: Adtech’s new clothes might redefine privacy more than they reform profiling

Pegasus scandal in Hungary: „Not surprising, but still shameful“

Depictions of child abuse: The internet forgets nothing, as long as it’s not supposed to forget

Childcare benefits scandal: Dutch government to pay million Euro fine over racist data discrimination

Peter Thiel: Monopoly’s fiercest advocate

EU Commission: Why chat control is so dangerous

AI ethics: Google tells EU that users bear responsibility for discrimination

Digital trade: Tech industry pushes Europe for WTO data flows deal

Freedom of Information: „The Austrian proposal is very retro“