EDRi-gram, 19 February 2025

What has the EDRis network been up to over the past two weeks? Find out the latest digital rights news in our bi-weekly newsletter. In this edition: Commission withdraws ePrivacy proposal, new database to track investigations into Big Tech, & more!

By EDRi · February 19, 2025

Dear supporters,

World leaders, tech giants and an odd celebrity or two walk into the Grand Palais in Paris to contemplate artificial intelligence (AI). Unfortunately, this is not the beginning of a joke. Last week, the French government hosted the AI Action Summit in Paris. EDRi attended the summit to advocate for a people-centric and sustainable approach to AI regulation. We were disappointed to see EU leadership bending to the whims of the US, the tech industry and some member states, and sacrificing human rights and environmental protections for the sake of innovation at all costs.

There is already resistance to the massive proliferation of AI in all spheres of life. In the run up to the AI Summit, EDRi member La Quadrature du Net launched Hiatus, a diverse coalition of French civil society, that denounces the subjugation of public policy to the interests of the tech industry, as well as the human and environmental costs of AI. Read their stirring manifesto in this EDRigram.

This week we also chuckled at a satirical awareness-raising initiative about the enormous environmental footprint of AI, which encourages people to “drink less water, take shorter showers, and sit in the dark to ensure AI has enough resources to keep going.”

Don’t miss finding out more about EDRi’s newly launched Digital Services Coordinators (DSC) database. This useful resources tracks Digital Services Act investigations into Big Tech, and has background information on all DSCs and enforcement actions they have taken to ensure people are able to exercise their rights and freedoms online.

RECOMMENDED

Do

Make TikTok safer for children and young people

EDRi observer, Amnesty International

TikTok markets itself as an online platform for entertainment, creativity, and community, but is becoming a space that is more and more toxic and addictive, which can impact the self-image, mental health, well-being of younger users. Amnesty International’s petition urges TikTok to make its platform safer by banning personalised ads aimed at its younger users, and not using people’s sensitive personal information to create an addictive timeline. Sign the petition.

 

Read

A French coalition to resist AI

EDRi member, La Quadrature du Net

In the run-up to France’s AI summit on February 10 and 11, La Quadrature du Net kick-started Hiatus, a new coalition of French civil society organizations intent on resisting the massive and widespread deployment of artificial intelligence. Read the founding manifesto.

 

watch

Big Tech Must Go

Martin Andree

Digital monopolies shape ever larger parts of our lives. The platforms are increasingly controlling the public formation of political opinion and at the same time abolishing our free market economy. Digital expert Martin Andree shows in detail how far the hostile takeover of our society by the tech giants has already progressed – and how we could reclaim the Internet. Watch the video.

 

Listen

The politics of intellectual shame

Logbuch:Netzpolitik

Meredith Whittaker, president of the Signal Foundation, joined the podcast to talk about her way into the digital realm, organising Google walkouts, the principles of Signal, how she views Europe and the regulations policies of the EU and more. Even though the discussion already took place in October 2024, it provides insights into tech culture that are relevant beyond the day-to-day business. Listen to the podcast.

EVENTS

JOBS