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takebackthetech.bsky.social
Take Back The Tech!
@takebackthetech.bsky.social
260 followers 21 following 45 posts
Take control of technology to end violence against women! An @apc.bsky.social campaign working with grassroots movements around the world since 2007.
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takebackthetech.bsky.social
Women human rights defenders working on indigenous ownership of land and territories against extractivist governments and corporations face higher risks & dangers in their everyday life.

Digital security becomes an urgent need that all defenders + communicators must prioritise. @apc.org #16Days
Illustration of a group of women looking at their phones together. Text: 1,428 acts of aggression Against land defenders In the last 5 years.
December 1, 2025 at 6:15 PM
takebackthetech.bsky.social
Gendered weapons in an information war look like…

➡️ Self-censorship after after observing fellow trans women being villainised and fetishised online

➡️ Blackmail after creating fake profiles through stolen and leaked media.

...and much more. Read: genderit.org/feminist-tal...

@apc.org #16Days
Illustration of two figures having a conversation. One says: Bye bye gender ideology. The other, while looking at their phone, says: Western propaganda. Text: In August 2022, amidst political unrest and a worsening cost-of-living crisis, Pakistani influencers launched an anti-trans moral panic. An illustration of a group of people in a pro-trans protest while a large hand with a hammer comes down on them. Text: In Pakistan, influencers targeted the centuries-old Khawaja Sira community (historically referred to as hijra), accusing them of being a foreign import despite their deep roots in South Asian history and spiritual traditions. An illustration of a group of people in a pro-trans protest. Text: Mehloob*, a trans woman who spent nearly a decade as a trans rights defender, carefully maintained a low profile. Online hate grew, and anti-trans targeted anyone whose appearance or voice didn’t match idealised gender norms. An illustration of a group of people in a pro-trans protest. Text: In an increasingly hostile digital environment where platforms prioritise engagement over safety, coordinated attacks cannot be curbed — leaving activists vulnerable. Self-doubt, doxxing, deep fakes, harassment and physical harm become consequences. (in small text) This post has been adapted from a collection on militarisation and technology by Safety For Voices.
December 1, 2025 at 7:06 AM
takebackthetech.bsky.social
Ma Bee is a #WHRD from #Myanmar, a feminist researcher and founder/editor of Myit Ye See Than Magazine.

Read about the transformative potential of fear as a reflective tool — for ourselves and our communities.

#WHRDVoices for #16Days — supported by #SafetyForVoices!

@apc.org #TakeBackTechJoy
Illustration of a pair of canvas shoes with flowers blooming out of it. Text: On one of the days of continuous protests in a suburban area of Yangon[...] two military trucks entered recklessly while I was singing the protest song and leading the chants. Illustration of flowers. Text: I had never gotten hit by this kind of fear before. I asked myself, “What am I afraid of?” I was scared of getting caught by the soldiers for sure. At the same time, I felt anger. Illustration of flowers. Text: bell hooks said: Fear is the primary force upholding structures of domination. It promotes the desire for separation, the desire not to be known. When we choose to love we choose to move against fear – against alienation and separation. The choice to love is a choice to connect – to find ourselves in the other. Illustration of flowers. Text: When someone asks me now what my biggest fear is, I answer “losing freedom” as an individual and as a collective group of people. I believe the first stage of freedom from fear is to notice and accept its existence. From there, we can find ways to overcome and be healed from its wounds. (in small text) This post has been adapted from an anthology by Women Human Rights Defenders by Safety For Voices.
November 29, 2025 at 4:21 AM
takebackthetech.bsky.social
Women journalists and human rights defenders working in Lebanese frontlines face higher risks of cyber violence.

“The idea [behind repression] is to silence journalists [and] stop reporting on violations [or]corruption.” #NoTechForWar

Read on GenderITorg: genderit.org/feminist-tal...

@apc.org
Illustration of a woman working on a computer. In the background are windows opening up to a warscape. Text: “What we saw during the last war, particularly the escalation, was that there were warning signs for people who work on documenting violence, that if you’re documenting what’s going on in the ground, you may become a target.” — Ramzi Kaiss, a researcher with Human Rights Watch (on the war in Lebanon) Illustration of a window opening up to a warscape. Text: Kaiss has been a part of multiple HRW investigations documenting Israel’s targeted technology-driven location attacks on media and aid workers in Lebanon in the last 15 months, including the one that killed Najjar, Reda and Qassem last October. Israel has consistently denied HRW’s investigations, calling them false. Illustration of a window opening up to a warscape. Text: Women media workers in Lebanon have historically faced discrimination and harassment within close quarters, especially the Lebanese political parties. The recent past has seen Lebanese women journalists being compelled to flee the country, or being imprisoned for their work. “In a country like Lebanon, where, already in peace times, there exists discriminatory laws against women, especially ones that don’t protect them from physical and sexual abuse, reporting on war becomes even more challenging for women.” This post has been adapted from a collection on militarisation and technology by Safety For Voices.
November 27, 2025 at 6:24 PM
takebackthetech.bsky.social
#RideRollLead is not just a group, it's a sanctuary where women feel seen, uplifted and empowered. #Pakistani women meet and find community on rides.

#WHRDVoices: Reclaiming public spaces through incredible acts of resilience and mutual aid brings us so much joy! #16Days #TakeBackTechJoy @apc.org
Image of a woman cycling. Text: How Ayesha’s cycling group in Pakistan started with a bike commute… and a Facebook post! More than 50 girls signed up within the first hour, but nobody had a bike. Partial image of a woman cycling. Text: In her city, biking — even though therapeutic — wasn’t a safe activity for women. So even though there was interest, women didn’t own bikes. “If you get the bikes, would you be interested in running a girls’ cycling group?” Hand-drawn element of a cycling route and a cycle. Text: That’s how the first-ever girls cycling club in Karachi was born: "Ride, Roll, Lead” What started with two cycles turned into 10 cycles within a month. Image of a woman cycling. Text: “Cycling, when done in a community, becomes more than just movement. It's an act of resistance, existence, visibility, and a source of joy amidst all life’s problems.” (in small text) This post has been adapted from an anthology by Women Human Rights Defenders by Safety For Voices.
November 27, 2025 at 7:29 AM
takebackthetech.bsky.social
Digital surveillance in Kashmir acts as a character certificate — based on social media activities, journalism or human rights work, making its way into the files of the CID.

For women, the consequences (& harassment) are gendered. Read on GenderITorg: genderit.org/feminist-tal...

@apc.org #16Days
Image of a group of security officials looking at multiple screens showing civilian footage. Text: “Security officials treat people of my gender as if it’s a weak spot to shut us down”. How gender is weaponised against Women Human Rights Defenders in Kashmir Image of a group of security officials looking at multiple screens showing civilian footage. Text: For women human rights defenders in Kashmir, technologies of war—particularly digital surveillance—have been re-engineered to operate as intimate tools of intimidation. Not only are their public actions monitored, but their private lives are dissected under the state’s algorithmic gaze. Partial image of a group of security officials looking at multiple screens showing civilian footage. Text: Security officials use journalists’ digital presence to dissect private lives, from everyday movements to information on their families, during summons. This often means endangering sources or personal privacy. Partial image of a group of security officials looking at multiple screens showing civilian footage. Text: Women journalists are especially forced to keep their profile low because the intimidation uses their gender identity to silence them. This post has been adapted from a collection on militarisation and technology by Safety For Voices.
November 26, 2025 at 3:04 PM
takebackthetech.bsky.social
“I dream of a world where women human rights defenders have robust support [and] therapy is affordable. Where healing is a line item in every donor budget."

#WHRDVoices: Zipporah (Kenya) writes about burnout, and how sustainable activism must be rooted in rest. #TakeBackTechJoy #16Days @apc.org
Image of women sitting around a table and talking. Text: People imagine activism is glamorous, the hashtags and panels. But we cry in matatus. We skip meals. We stretch stipends whenever they find us. We attend funerals of girls we couldn’t save. Text on a patterned background: We don’t all wear capes. Many of us wear aprons, lesos, worn-out hope, and a knowing smile that hides exhaustion. Text on a patterned background: In meetings, our voices as women are often interrupted. In protest planning, our safety is an afterthought. We are told we are too emotional, too soft, too distracted by our children, our hormones, our families. But we show up. Every time. Text on a patterned background with women talking on the side: Honestly, sometimes, we just want to rest. To pause. To breathe. But guilt comes flooding in. Who will carry the work? Who will protect the girls? Who will answer the calls?.
November 26, 2025 at 5:29 AM
takebackthetech.bsky.social
Personal phone calls, once assumed private, frequently surface on social media in Ethiopia.

These leaks rarely come from formal institutions. Instead, they’re disseminated by quasi-influencers and government-aligned digital actors. #NoTechForWar

On GenderIT @apc.org: genderit.org/edition/focu...
Central image of a woman speaking on a phone with a mass of people around her. Text: “It’s not just about politics. It’s about humiliation. They turn our private lives into weapons.” How surveillance became a political strategy in Ethiopia Image on the side of people milling about. Their eyes are completely white and screen-like. Text: Surveillance in Ethiopia has evolved beyond a mere function of the state. (and deployed against women, its effects are particularly devastating.) Image on the bottom left corner of people with screen-like eyes peeking out. Text: Tools once reserved for military intelligence—call interception, movement tracking, metadata harvesting—are now used to intimidate, humiliate, and silence women human rights defenders (WHRDs). Image on the bottom of a group of people with screen-like eyes. Text: This ecosystem thrives on fear. Surveillance doesn’t merely extract information—it amplifies vulnerability, intersecting with deep-rooted misogyny, stigma, and social exclusion. This post has been adapted from a collection on militarisation and technology by Safety For Voices.
November 25, 2025 at 6:09 PM
takebackthetech.bsky.social
Across the globe, Women Human Rights Defenders organise for justice & equality.

#WHRDs face intense attacks — disinformation, surveillance, stalking — but continue the work in a remarkable display of hope & care.

So even as we say #NoTechForWar, we continue to #TakeBackTechJoy! [1/2] @apc.org
On a dark purple background are surveillance icons and "16 Days of Activism" is on the top left corner. The central image is of diverse women holding glowing tech devices, surrounded by flowers. Text in the middle: Networking resistance #NoTechForWar
November 24, 2025 at 4:44 PM
takebackthetech.bsky.social
So, yes, we are all connected — in this reality, how can you participate in real, tangible ways towards the struggle for Palestinian self-determination?

How can you resist forces that seem too big and vast to take on? (2/2)

#TakeBackTheTech interviews ➡️ takebackthetech.net/blog/big-tec...
"Big Tech almost demands our silence in exchange for the use of their services." PART 1: Interview with DJ Outvertigo Featuring an illustration of the interviewee by Laura Ibanez
March 26, 2025 at 1:32 AM
takebackthetech.bsky.social
#BlueSky, help us reach the right people!

🚨 We are seeking proposals & pitches for stories, analysis + collective experiences that address digital stalking from an intersectional feminist lens 🏳️‍🌈

🚨 Send pitch (300 words) to genderit_editions@apc.org 📧

🚨 PAID

Details: genderit.org/resources/ca...
Text: Call for Pitches Power Narratives - Unmasking Digital Stalkers If you think the term "stalking" has expanded to include new technological tactics and dynamics, we want to hear your perspective. Each contributor will be paid 500 USD upon submission of final entries. Deadline: March 27, 2025 https://genderit.org/resources/call-pitches-power-narratives-unmasking-digital-stalkers On the left are icons of a keyboard and a pen, as well as a computer with the Take Back The Tech! logo on it.
March 25, 2025 at 3:32 AM
takebackthetech.bsky.social
Targeted and mass surveillance of women and queer human rights defenders uses #GenderedDisinformation when it manifests. #CSW69

Their private lives may be used to discredit their work or shame them — but this specific targeting needs to be acknowledged and redressed. (4/4)
Blood stain on the bottom left of the image. Text: Attacking the “honour” or reputation of women human rights defenders puts their lives at risk.
March 8, 2025 at 4:56 PM
takebackthetech.bsky.social
Yet anti-surveillance or "protection" cannot become an excuse for governments to create laws that unfairly target freedom of expression.

Anti-cybercrime measures must be grounded in the principles of legality, necessity & proportionality. (3/4)

🔗 www.apc.org/en/pubs/when... 🔗
Illustrations of a computer setup and a keyboard on the left and right side of the image respectively. Text: [Anti-GBV laws] are used to legitimise disproportionate censorship and surveillance measures, and in some cases are even used against those who invoke them for their protection. When protection becomes an excuse for criminalisation: Gender considerations on cybercrime frameworks Derechos Digitales and APC
March 8, 2025 at 4:56 PM
takebackthetech.bsky.social
Emerging technologies harm #WomenHumanRightsDefenders in newer ways.

State-backed military-grade surveillance technology targets #WHRDs to impact their personal & professional lives. #InternationalWomensDay #CSW69

@apc.org's open letter to states: www.apc.org/en/pubs/open... (1/4) #IWD #IWD2025
Text with illustrations of women in media at the bottom and a surveillance eye on the right: “Dozens of women journalists and human rights defenders in Bahrain and Jordan have had their phones hacked using NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware.” https://theintercept.com/2022/01/18/pegasus-spyware-nso-group-women-activists-journalists/
March 8, 2025 at 4:56 PM
takebackthetech.bsky.social
The answer lies in the data that is used to train them and the team that creates them.

Teams that are not well-represented, for example: all male, all white, all heterosexual — will undoubtedly design systems that do not reflect the common spectrum of experiences. (2/4) #IWD #IWD2025
A.I. needs to be transparent, diverse, representative, inclusive
March 8, 2025 at 10:59 AM
takebackthetech.bsky.social
#ArtificialIntelligence is evolving to become a part of our daily lives — it is now more enmeshed than it ever was.

It creates photographs, videos and text... and women's images are made to look "sexy", while prejudices remain constant in many answers. (1/4)

Thread ⬇️ #CSW69 #IWD #IWD2025
Artificial intelligence is a feminist issue.
March 8, 2025 at 10:59 AM
takebackthetech.bsky.social
Digital platforms must be held accountable for prioritising engagement and profit over the harm caused by divisive and hateful content to people on the ground — people who are its "users".

#BigTech can't just use "digital literacy" as a Get Out Of Jail card. #CSW69 (4/4) #IWD #IWD2025
Text with icons of social engagement on the side and a switch off button at the top: “Facebook could do much more and shut these pages down but so long as they continue to profit from the reach and engagement, they don’t seem to be interested in decisive action.” - Mehreen Faruqi, Australia’s first female Muslim senator 'Inside the hate factory: how Facebook fuels far-right profit' (The Guardian, 2019)
March 8, 2025 at 9:47 AM
takebackthetech.bsky.social
But it's not just a woman's issue. It has larger consequences for how our societies function.

Tech-facilitated #GBV like #GenderedDisinformation drastically undermines the free and fair functioning of democracies by chilling free expression.

Read: takebackthetech.net/blog/undermi... (3/4) #IWD
An illustration about gendered disinformation is in the outline of a computer screen. Text: State-led gendered disinformation campaigns have been used to silence and deter women in politics from speaking out all over the world, “in some cases with the aid of a “cyber militia,” in addition to ordinary internet users. Undermining Democracy: Gendered Disinformation as an Early Warning System Take Back The Tech!
March 8, 2025 at 9:47 AM
takebackthetech.bsky.social
Newer technologies mean newer ways of expressing the same old hierarchies.

#OnlineGBV spreads faster and has more longevity, but stems from the same intentions — to discredit women, limit their public space, and threaten their safety. #CSW69 (2/4) #IWD #IWD2025
Text with an illustration of eyes looking sideways: “The perpetrators are well aware of the effects on women. Their aim is to discredit, discourage and silence women, to “frame them as untrustworthy, unintelligent, emotional/angry/crazy, or sexual.” - Marie Lamnech (Centre for International Governance Innovation)
March 8, 2025 at 9:47 AM
takebackthetech.bsky.social
Calling all #WomenHumanRightsDefenders!

As #tech continues to evolve, women (esp. #WHRDs) stay at an increased risk of technology-facilitated GBV, like:
🧲 doxxing
🧲 non-consensual sharing of intimate images
🧲 sexualised deep fakes
🧲 online stalking

Thread ⬇️ (1/4) #CSW69 #IWD #IWD2025
Text with a Twitter logo: On average, women receive abusive or problematic tweets once every 30 seconds. Women of colour are more impacted than their white counterparts, and Black women are disproportionately targeted. - Charting the Future: Revisiting Beijing's Commitments in the Digital Era Hija Kamran
March 8, 2025 at 9:47 AM
takebackthetech.bsky.social
To increase meaningful access and combat unequal access, governments and private actors must step in.

States must put #PeopleOverProfit.

Tech corporations need to create space & respond to the wants and needs of women, queer + disabled persons. (4/4) #IWD2025 #IWD

🔗 genderit.org/FPI-paper-on...
Text along with an image of an arm rising up with tattoos around women and visibility: Both states and private corporations need to be more attentive to providing access that enhances the human rights to privacy, confidentiality, security and safety.
March 8, 2025 at 8:15 AM
takebackthetech.bsky.social
Factors that affect the gendered #DigitalDivide:

🛜 affordability
🛜 quality of service
🛜 availability
🛜 relevance
🛜 access to internet equipment and security

In a world where #internet access is so tightly bound by governments & corporations, #CommunityNetworks help. (3/4) #IWD2025 #IWD
Text along with an image of a computer and a cursor: Community networks are computer-based systems organised in a grassroots fashion to provide a viable alternative to, or support, government and corporate-owned internet networks for consumers.
March 8, 2025 at 8:15 AM
takebackthetech.bsky.social
Being online is good, but it's not enough. #IWD2025 #IWD

Until and unless women & queer persons are included in the use, design, management and governance of digital technologies, meaningful access to the internet will not be achieved. (2/4)
Image of a South Asian woman looking at her phone. Text: Only 24% of leadership roles in technology are filled by women. - World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Report of 2022 (data collected from 155 countries)
March 8, 2025 at 8:15 AM
takebackthetech.bsky.social
Guess what: Many women and queer folks don't have real access to the internet, even when they are connected to it. #FeministPrinciplesOfTheInternet

If your connection is monitored, threatened, and/or secret, it's not real access.

So, then — what is? Thread ⬇️ (1/4) #CSW69 #FPI #IWD2025 #IWD
Image with FPI Access logo and text: “A feminist internet starts with enabling more women and queer persons to enjoy universal, acceptable, affordable, unconditional, open, meaningful and equal access to the internet."
March 8, 2025 at 8:15 AM
takebackthetech.bsky.social
As we winded down 2024, we rested and grieved the multiple wars ongoing across the world.

We had DJ Outvertigo on the #TakeBackTheTech mixtapes — a Palestinian refugee researcher born + raised in Lebanon — curate resources on Palestinian resistance.

Intersections of #AI & warfare: bit.ly/tbttboard
An illustration of DJ Outvertigo, decorated with olive branches, kuffiyeh patterns and elements of the sea
January 3, 2025 at 10:37 AM