EDRi-gram, 8 October 2026

What has the EDRi network been up to over the past few weeks? Find out the latest digital rights news in our regular newsletter. In this edition: Turning up the heat – Commission backs social media bans, Apple held accountable, summer to-dos, & more!

By EDRi · October 8, 2026

Dear supporters,

This EDRi-gram edition includes a real snapshot of the disconnect between the kind of technology and protections people and communities around the world need, and the kind that are being pushed at us by lawmakers and companies either for the sake of profits, as easy fixes to structural societal issues or more sinister reasons.

Take the EU’s recently announced KIDS ACT. We unpack the many shortcomings of the proposal which is a missed opportunity to address the root cause of why online platforms are harmful to children – and everyone else. We also look at the Cloud and AI Development (CADA) Act, a part of the EU’s Tech Sovereignty Package announced earlier this year. What was sold as a way to jumpstart the EU’s “sovereign AI” ambitions seems to be set to hurt digital rights and environmental protections instead, while also imposing an unreliable technology onto us.

Elsewhere, Austria will soon get to find out what happens when AI systems are allowed to issue legally binding government decisions without any human oversight. EDRi-member epicenter.works detail the draft proposal and all the ways it could backfire.

None of the above is without resistance from those of us working to protect your rights. Dutch EDRi-member Bits of Freedom have launched a new campaign demanding a ban on Meta’s “pervert glasses”, aka, AI glasses which can be used to film people without them knowing. Meta was clearly paying attention – their viral satirical video on these glasses was removed from Instagram.

From critical campaigns, and urging EU countries to not treat data protection and “competitiveness” as opposing goals as they discuss the Digital Omnibus, to legal action against Big Tech corporations preying on our minds – we’re fighting back.

Next week, at our flagship annual event #PrivacyCamp26, we’ll be asking the real questions – where does technology come from? Who shapes it? And what would self-determination look like if it were defined by the people, not dictated by profits or a state’s agenda? We hope to see some of you attending!

 

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[📰 read] The environmental impact of AI – A poorly regulated tipping point in the EU by CDT Europe. As the EU pushes ahead with a massive data centre buildout, this analysis shows how the AI Act and other existing laws largely sidestep AI’s energy, water and material footprint. It also argues that the proposed Cloud and AI Development Act weakens environmental protection, by fast-tracking permits and limiting public participation and legal recourse.

[🏃🏿 do] Call for proposals: legal analysis on access to personal data by migration enforcement authorities by PICUM. The Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants is seeking a legal expert to examine how the new EU Return Regulation, and recent laws in Sweden and Finland, turn healthcare, education and social services into tools of migration enforcement.

[🏃🏿 do] Explore 6 websites that remind us why we love the internet by Superrr lab. A playful antidote to doom-scrolling, this list gathers six websites that show the web at its most joyful and subversive. It ranges from Internet History Roulette, a spinning wheel of early-web nostalgia, to Queering the Map, a living archive of queer life.

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