Alia Al Ghussain
@aliaalghussain.bsky.social
Researcher/Adviser on Big Tech Accountability, @ Amnesty Tech. Palestinian. Feminist. Bookworm. She/her. Views my own.
I spoke to OkayAfrica about the landmark Kenya lawsuit in which a judge recently rule the court has jurisdiction to hear a case against #Meta for its contribution to violence in #Ethiopia about the avenues this opens up for community accountability
Read more here: www.okayafrica.com/kenya-ethiop...
Read more here: www.okayafrica.com/kenya-ethiop...
Can Facebook Be Held Responsible for Violence in Africa? Kenya’s Courts Say Yes | OkayAfrica
Ethiopian plaintiffs take on Meta in a landmark Kenyan lawsuit that could redefine Big Tech's accountability for fueling violence in Africa.
www.okayafrica.com
April 14, 2025 at 10:03 AM
I spoke to OkayAfrica about the landmark Kenya lawsuit in which a judge recently rule the court has jurisdiction to hear a case against #Meta for its contribution to violence in #Ethiopia about the avenues this opens up for community accountability
Read more here: www.okayafrica.com/kenya-ethiop...
Read more here: www.okayafrica.com/kenya-ethiop...
A real pleasure to speak to Evelyn for the IRLI podcast on why we need to rein in Big Tech. We discussed Meta's recent changes to fact-checking & policy & much more.
Listen here: www.irishruleoflaw.ie/_why_we_need...
Listen here: www.irishruleoflaw.ie/_why_we_need...
Why we need to rein in Big Tech
www.irishruleoflaw.ie
April 4, 2025 at 1:54 PM
A real pleasure to speak to Evelyn for the IRLI podcast on why we need to rein in Big Tech. We discussed Meta's recent changes to fact-checking & policy & much more.
Listen here: www.irishruleoflaw.ie/_why_we_need...
Listen here: www.irishruleoflaw.ie/_why_we_need...
In a highly significant victory, yesterday Kenya's High Court ruled that it has jurisdiction to hear & consider the merits of case in which #Meta is accused of promoting content that led to ethnic violence & killings in #Ethiopia.
www.amnesty.org/en/latest/ne...
www.amnesty.org/en/latest/ne...
Kenya: Meta can be sued in Kenya for role in Ethiopia conflict
Kenya High Court has ruled that it has jurisdiction to hear case against Meta over its role in Ethiopia conflict.
www.amnesty.org
April 4, 2025 at 9:43 AM
In a highly significant victory, yesterday Kenya's High Court ruled that it has jurisdiction to hear & consider the merits of case in which #Meta is accused of promoting content that led to ethnic violence & killings in #Ethiopia.
www.amnesty.org/en/latest/ne...
www.amnesty.org/en/latest/ne...
Today @amnesty.org & the DSA Civil Society Coordination Group published its analysis of the Risk Assessments Reports under the Digital Services Act (#DSA). It focuses on the reports of Google, Meta, TikTok and X.
cdt.org/wp-content/u...
cdt.org/wp-content/u...
cdt.org
March 17, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Today @amnesty.org & the DSA Civil Society Coordination Group published its analysis of the Risk Assessments Reports under the Digital Services Act (#DSA). It focuses on the reports of Google, Meta, TikTok and X.
cdt.org/wp-content/u...
cdt.org/wp-content/u...
I will be in #Taipei next week for #RightsCon 2025 and absolutely thrilled to be participating in a roundtable arranged by AI Taiwan on "Taiwan's next step: how to end online discrimination & hate speech without compromising civic space?"
February 21, 2025 at 10:46 AM
I will be in #Taipei next week for #RightsCon 2025 and absolutely thrilled to be participating in a roundtable arranged by AI Taiwan on "Taiwan's next step: how to end online discrimination & hate speech without compromising civic space?"
Reposted by Alia Al Ghussain
With over 230 organisations, we are demanding our government immediately halt all arms transfers to Israel, including F-35 fighter jets which the UK produces 15% of.
February 18, 2025 at 10:05 AM
With over 230 organisations, we are demanding our government immediately halt all arms transfers to Israel, including F-35 fighter jets which the UK produces 15% of.
Recent policy developments by Meta increase the risk of contributing to mass violence & gross human rights abuses - just like it did in Myanmar in 2017.
A timely op-ed by @patdebrun.bsky.social & Rohingya survivor Maung Sawyeddollah 👇
www.techpolicy.press/metas-new-co...
A timely op-ed by @patdebrun.bsky.social & Rohingya survivor Maung Sawyeddollah 👇
www.techpolicy.press/metas-new-co...
Meta’s New Content Policies Risk Fueling More Mass Violence And Genocide | TechPolicy.Press
Ignoring lessons from Myanmar and Ethiopia, Meta is stripping away safeguards against mass violence, write Pat de Brún and Maung Sawyeddollah.
www.techpolicy.press
February 18, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Recent policy developments by Meta increase the risk of contributing to mass violence & gross human rights abuses - just like it did in Myanmar in 2017.
A timely op-ed by @patdebrun.bsky.social & Rohingya survivor Maung Sawyeddollah 👇
www.techpolicy.press/metas-new-co...
A timely op-ed by @patdebrun.bsky.social & Rohingya survivor Maung Sawyeddollah 👇
www.techpolicy.press/metas-new-co...
A Rohingya survivor, Maung Sawyeddollah, has filed a whistleblower complaint with the SEC, asking the agency to investigate Meta for possibly violating securities law by not disclosing its contributions to the 2017 atrocities against the #Rohingya in Myanmar.
www.amnesty.org/en/latest/ne...
www.amnesty.org/en/latest/ne...
United States: Rohingya survivor asks US regulator to investigate Meta’s potential role in Myanmar atrocities
Maung Sawyeddollah, a Rohingya human rights activist has filed a whistleblower complaint with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), asking the agency to investigate Meta for alleged violati...
www.amnesty.org
January 24, 2025 at 3:46 PM
A Rohingya survivor, Maung Sawyeddollah, has filed a whistleblower complaint with the SEC, asking the agency to investigate Meta for possibly violating securities law by not disclosing its contributions to the 2017 atrocities against the #Rohingya in Myanmar.
www.amnesty.org/en/latest/ne...
www.amnesty.org/en/latest/ne...
Reposted by Alia Al Ghussain
US President Donald Trump has made his government's plans clear - prioritising the profits of big corporations over the needs of people & our planet.
These policies are a manifestation of a far-right political agenda of racism & bigotry, and we must stand against it.
These policies are a manifestation of a far-right political agenda of racism & bigotry, and we must stand against it.
January 21, 2025 at 1:41 PM
US President Donald Trump has made his government's plans clear - prioritising the profits of big corporations over the needs of people & our planet.
These policies are a manifestation of a far-right political agenda of racism & bigotry, and we must stand against it.
These policies are a manifestation of a far-right political agenda of racism & bigotry, and we must stand against it.
Reposted by Alia Al Ghussain
Big tech is picking apart European democracy, but there is a solution: switch off its #algorithms - www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... yes: johnny ryan is right, and knows what he is talking about...
Big tech is picking apart European democracy, but there is a solution: switch off its algorithms | Johnny Ryan
The latest actions of Musk and Zuckerberg are a sign of things to come, but the EU already has the power to give people back control, says Johnny Ryan, director of Enforce, a unit of the Irish Council...
www.theguardian.com
January 14, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Big tech is picking apart European democracy, but there is a solution: switch off its #algorithms - www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... yes: johnny ryan is right, and knows what he is talking about...
Reposted by Alia Al Ghussain
“You could say the dominoes are falling, and they’re falling on, of course, the poorest people in the world”.
Our Executive Director, Asad Rehman, spoke to Middle East Eye about how global heating breaching the 1.5°C target is magnifying global inequalities. www.middleeasteye.net/news/algeria...
Our Executive Director, Asad Rehman, spoke to Middle East Eye about how global heating breaching the 1.5°C target is magnifying global inequalities. www.middleeasteye.net/news/algeria...
Algeria records highest temperatures in 2024 as global warming breaches 1.5C
Swathes of the Middle East and North Africa have seen more days than average of 'extreme heat stress'
www.middleeasteye.net
January 13, 2025 at 12:01 PM
“You could say the dominoes are falling, and they’re falling on, of course, the poorest people in the world”.
Our Executive Director, Asad Rehman, spoke to Middle East Eye about how global heating breaching the 1.5°C target is magnifying global inequalities. www.middleeasteye.net/news/algeria...
Our Executive Director, Asad Rehman, spoke to Middle East Eye about how global heating breaching the 1.5°C target is magnifying global inequalities. www.middleeasteye.net/news/algeria...
Reposted by Alia Al Ghussain
And another view on this from the @financialtimes.com
"If Meta and X were confident in heading off the regulatory impositions of the EU, Brazil and elsewhere, they would not need to swing behind Trump and the new administration."
www.ft.com/content/917c...
"If Meta and X were confident in heading off the regulatory impositions of the EU, Brazil and elsewhere, they would not need to swing behind Trump and the new administration."
www.ft.com/content/917c...
Financial TimesFinancial Times
News, analysis and opinion from the Financial Times on the latest in markets, economics and politics
FT.com
January 13, 2025 at 3:04 PM
And another view on this from the @financialtimes.com
"If Meta and X were confident in heading off the regulatory impositions of the EU, Brazil and elsewhere, they would not need to swing behind Trump and the new administration."
www.ft.com/content/917c...
"If Meta and X were confident in heading off the regulatory impositions of the EU, Brazil and elsewhere, they would not need to swing behind Trump and the new administration."
www.ft.com/content/917c...
Reposted by Alia Al Ghussain
“The fact that Zuckerberg openly said that he is enlisting Trump’s help to pressure global regulators to not enforce their own laws in their own countries should concern anyone who cares about global democracy.” www.thebulwark.com/p/zuckerberg...
Zuckerberg vs. Democracy
The changes he’s making to appease Donald Trump won’t fix the ways Facebook is harmful to our civic and political life.
www.thebulwark.com
January 10, 2025 at 2:12 PM
“The fact that Zuckerberg openly said that he is enlisting Trump’s help to pressure global regulators to not enforce their own laws in their own countries should concern anyone who cares about global democracy.” www.thebulwark.com/p/zuckerberg...
Reposted by Alia Al Ghussain
oversimplification of human cognition while overinflating the capacity of computers is not the clever and logical argument you think it is. it only serves as a pr for big tech and their shareholders
A gentle reminder that humans are also pattern-matching machines—but with identity crises, biases, and the occasional existential dread. Maybe the real Turing Test is figuring out which one overthinks more.
#AI #Philosophy
#HumanVsMachine
#AI #Philosophy
#HumanVsMachine
a gentle reminder that a chatbot does NOT have personality, identity, gender, volution, intentions, or feelings... it is a computer program that's extremely good at predicting the next word in a sequence based on previous words it has "seen"
January 4, 2025 at 4:05 PM
oversimplification of human cognition while overinflating the capacity of computers is not the clever and logical argument you think it is. it only serves as a pr for big tech and their shareholders
Reposted by Alia Al Ghussain
Saying "AI is just a tool" does not mean you get to absolve yourself of thinking critically about the labor implications, or how LLMs trained on stolen work, or the water and power needs of the sector.
December 26, 2024 at 7:08 PM
Saying "AI is just a tool" does not mean you get to absolve yourself of thinking critically about the labor implications, or how LLMs trained on stolen work, or the water and power needs of the sector.
Reposted by Alia Al Ghussain
#ChatGPT search tool vulnerable to manipulation and deception, tests show - www.theguardian.com/technology/2... " testing reveals AI-powered search tools can return false or malicious results if webpages contain hidden text" hardly news... #genai
ChatGPT search tool vulnerable to manipulation and deception, tests show
Exclusive: Guardian testing reveals AI-powered search tools can return false or malicious results if webpages contain hidden text
www.theguardian.com
December 24, 2024 at 8:52 AM
#ChatGPT search tool vulnerable to manipulation and deception, tests show - www.theguardian.com/technology/2... " testing reveals AI-powered search tools can return false or malicious results if webpages contain hidden text" hardly news... #genai
Reposted by Alia Al Ghussain
The thing I keep thinking about with this Blake Lively situation is how well-resourced this woman is. I want people to think about the bot army and the structured takedown, and how eager people were to participate, and how this is doubtlessly done to activists and thinkers without consequence.
December 23, 2024 at 6:45 PM
The thing I keep thinking about with this Blake Lively situation is how well-resourced this woman is. I want people to think about the bot army and the structured takedown, and how eager people were to participate, and how this is doubtlessly done to activists and thinkers without consequence.
Reposted by Alia Al Ghussain
One of the degrading inanities of 45/47 is that he sees everything as a real estate deal or a grift. Except for stuff he sees as golf course management, for ex: to prevent forest fires you just need to rake the forest floor. Greenland is not for sale.
Trump has been eyeing Greenland for years.
December 23, 2024 at 5:07 AM
One of the degrading inanities of 45/47 is that he sees everything as a real estate deal or a grift. Except for stuff he sees as golf course management, for ex: to prevent forest fires you just need to rake the forest floor. Greenland is not for sale.
🚨We're hiring for a short term consultancy!🚨
Amnesty Tech are looking for a consultant to work on Competition Law and Human Rights Policy Research - with a focus on Big Tech.
More details here: careers.amnesty.org/jobs/vacancy...
Amnesty Tech are looking for a consultant to work on Competition Law and Human Rights Policy Research - with a focus on Big Tech.
More details here: careers.amnesty.org/jobs/vacancy...
Amnesty International Careers
Amnesty International Careers, Jobs, Search and Apply
careers.amnesty.org
December 20, 2024 at 4:47 PM
🚨We're hiring for a short term consultancy!🚨
Amnesty Tech are looking for a consultant to work on Competition Law and Human Rights Policy Research - with a focus on Big Tech.
More details here: careers.amnesty.org/jobs/vacancy...
Amnesty Tech are looking for a consultant to work on Competition Law and Human Rights Policy Research - with a focus on Big Tech.
More details here: careers.amnesty.org/jobs/vacancy...
Reposted by Alia Al Ghussain
If there's one thing the NYPD is good at, it's...art history?
Not comparing Luigi Mangione to Jesus Christ, but I am comparing composition to composition.
Not comparing Luigi Mangione to Jesus Christ, but I am comparing composition to composition.
December 20, 2024 at 6:27 AM
If there's one thing the NYPD is good at, it's...art history?
Not comparing Luigi Mangione to Jesus Christ, but I am comparing composition to composition.
Not comparing Luigi Mangione to Jesus Christ, but I am comparing composition to composition.
Following @amnesty.org 's report on genocide in #Gaza, Human Rights Watch now makes the same finding.
The consensus amongst human rights organisations is growing. This is genocide. And no one can say they did not know.
www.theguardian.com/world/2024/d...
The consensus amongst human rights organisations is growing. This is genocide. And no one can say they did not know.
www.theguardian.com/world/2024/d...
Israel accused of act of genocide over restriction of Gaza water supply
Human Rights Watch says Israeli forces have acted deliberately to cut availability of clean water
www.theguardian.com
December 19, 2024 at 3:48 PM
Following @amnesty.org 's report on genocide in #Gaza, Human Rights Watch now makes the same finding.
The consensus amongst human rights organisations is growing. This is genocide. And no one can say they did not know.
www.theguardian.com/world/2024/d...
The consensus amongst human rights organisations is growing. This is genocide. And no one can say they did not know.
www.theguardian.com/world/2024/d...
Reposted by Alia Al Ghussain
‘Everything is gone’: how Israeli forces destroyed Jabaliya refugee camp - www.theguardian.com/global-devel... “One day when my stepmother was returning to the school, she was killed by snipers. A few days later, my father was also killed by a sniper.” #gaza #israel
‘Everything is gone’: how Israeli forces destroyed Jabaliya refugee camp
A chronicle of Jabaliya’s destruction, using eyewitness accounts, satellite imagery and video footage
www.theguardian.com
December 18, 2024 at 11:42 AM
‘Everything is gone’: how Israeli forces destroyed Jabaliya refugee camp - www.theguardian.com/global-devel... “One day when my stepmother was returning to the school, she was killed by snipers. A few days later, my father was also killed by a sniper.” #gaza #israel
Reposted by Alia Al Ghussain
Quite "humble" amounts so far, but what's stopping Musk from using Twitter's algorithm - as he's done for himself - to promote and amplify, thereby increasing creator payouts to Reform MPs and other politicians he supports? Or even changing creator payments for those he prefers?
The Reform UK MPs Already Being Bankrolled by Elon Musk
Nigel Farage is already benefiting financially thanks to the billionaire owner of X
bylinetimes.com
December 18, 2024 at 4:37 PM
Quite "humble" amounts so far, but what's stopping Musk from using Twitter's algorithm - as he's done for himself - to promote and amplify, thereby increasing creator payouts to Reform MPs and other politicians he supports? Or even changing creator payments for those he prefers?
Al Mezan, an organisation on the ground in #Gaza are collecting testimonies from the people who live there.
Please read & consider supporting Al Mezan, who are really doing amazing work in the most difficult circumstances imaginable.
mezan.org/public/en/po...
Please read & consider supporting Al Mezan, who are really doing amazing work in the most difficult circumstances imaginable.
mezan.org/public/en/po...
Testimonies from Gaza: Fawaz Abu Shehda
mezan.org
December 18, 2024 at 3:47 PM
Al Mezan, an organisation on the ground in #Gaza are collecting testimonies from the people who live there.
Please read & consider supporting Al Mezan, who are really doing amazing work in the most difficult circumstances imaginable.
mezan.org/public/en/po...
Please read & consider supporting Al Mezan, who are really doing amazing work in the most difficult circumstances imaginable.
mezan.org/public/en/po...
Reposted by Alia Al Ghussain
i hadn't noticed how bad it's gotten on X, but there's been a few days this week where my tiktok feed has been full of ed vids, like one after the other seemingly out of nowhere!!!! (maybe coming from cooking/beauty vids i engaged with? idk!)
www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
Eating-Disorder Content Is Thriving on X
One of the thorniest content-moderation problems grows out of control with neglect.
www.theatlantic.com
December 18, 2024 at 2:52 PM
i hadn't noticed how bad it's gotten on X, but there's been a few days this week where my tiktok feed has been full of ed vids, like one after the other seemingly out of nowhere!!!! (maybe coming from cooking/beauty vids i engaged with? idk!)
www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...