Piketty, Varoufakis, and Acemoglu warn that the contest between the social network X and Brasilia is yet another chapter in the “alarming” global effort by large companies to control the digital development of countries.

Editorial Note from Future Lab: The issue of Brazil’s digital sovereignty, which is extremely important, is also imbued with ideological questions. None of the opposing parties is innocent—not Brazil, embodied by Alexandre de Moraes, Supreme Court Judge, who is not exactly a champion of free speech, nor his personal opponent, Elon Musk. On the other hand, some activists, such as former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis—an extraordinary writer who must be taken very seriously in all related matters and whose latest book (Technofeudalism) we recommend, clearly oriented in a Marxist direction—are also involved. That is why we believe these issues must be analyzed carefully and with the necessary rational filters. We are witnessing a huge global battle between those who call for “digital sovereignty,” which is absolutely logical and should not be politicized, and the real “feudalism” of the big tech companies, which, as has already been demonstrated before parliamentary authorities in the European Union and the United States, is an extremely dangerous reality. Moreover, the “freedom of expression” of Marxist and pro-Marxist currents has traditionally proven to be just as dangerous. It will be necessary to walk a careful middle path.

Prof. Dr. Ricardo Petrissans Aguilar

COLLABORATION BY Manuel G. Pascual – EL PAÍS OF MADRID

The echoes of the ban on the social network X in Brazil continue to resonate three weeks later. Motivated by the “repeated noncompliance with judicial orders” by the platform led by Elon Musk, which refused to block profiles that contribute to the “mass dissemination of Nazi, racist, fascist, hateful, and anti-democratic speeches,” the forced closure of the platform has been interpreted as a wake-up call to society against the excesses of tech companies. However, it remains to be seen what real effects this blow will have.

Half a dozen economists, academics, and activists published an open letter on Tuesday demanding an end to the pressure exerted by “big tech companies” on Brasilia to curb the deployment of various initiatives aimed at defending its digital sovereignty.

“We wish to express our deep concern regarding the continuous attacks by large tech companies and their allies against Brazil’s digital sovereignty,” the document begins. The dispute between the Brazilian government and Elon Musk is only the latest example of a broader effort to “restrict the ability of sovereign nations to set a digital development agenda free from the control of megacorporations based in the US,” the signatories emphasize, among them economists such as Thomas Piketty, who shook the field a decade ago with Capital in the Twenty-First Century; Yanis Varoufakis, the brief Greek Finance Minister who handled the country’s bailout; inequality expert Daron Acemoglu; and Mariana Mazzucato. Other prominent names supporting the text include Shoshana Zuboff, author of The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, essayist Evgeny Morozov, and jurist Renata Ávila.

¿What does the second photo from Plaza de Colón imply for the right?

Academics emphasize that Brazil has become the “key front” in the “global conflict between tech corporations and those seeking to build a democratic, people-centered digital landscape focused on social and economic development.” According to the document, President Lula da Silva is pursuing digital independence for his country by reducing its dependence on foreign entities for data, AI capabilities, and digital infrastructure, and by forcing big tech companies “to pay fair taxes, comply with local laws, and be held accountable for the social externalities of their business models.”

The response to this Brazilian regulatory push has been the challenge posed by some tech companies, such as X, and the threats from others aimed at “undermining initiatives that seek technological autonomy” in the American country. The signatories of the document believe that what is happening there concerns us all. “More than a warning to Brazil, [the actions of big tech companies] send a worrying message to the world: that democratic countries seeking independence from the dominance of big tech companies risk having their democracies disrupted, with some corporations supporting far-right movements and parties.”

“We demand that big tech companies cease their attempts to sabotage Brazil’s initiatives aimed at developing independent capabilities in artificial intelligence, public digital infrastructure, data management, and cloud technology,” the letter states, without specifying which acts of sabotage it refers to. One of the document’s signatories points to AWS, an Amazon subsidiary, which held a meeting with government representatives three weeks ago to offer a service proposal to support the sovereign cloud project that Brasilia is working on. “Big tech companies not only control the digital world, but also lobby and work against the public sector’s ability to create and maintain an independent digital agenda,” reads the statement presented today.

From the European exception to the American:

Brazil, host of the November G20 summit, presented its AI plan in July, which envisions an investment of 4 billion dollars over the next ten years and, under the slogan “IA para o Bem de Todos” (AI for the Good of All), includes the regulation of this technology to establish clear limits and ensure its development is inclusive and sustainable. The government also has a program underway to establish a national cloud computing infrastructure.

The Brazilian case is further confirmation that the regulatory momentum around technology is not solely a European prerogative. The EU’s ambitious legal framework in digital matters, which will be completed in 2026 when the AI Regulation comes into effect, has inspired legislative initiatives in some U.S. states and other countries. This week, the report on AI governance—on which the UN has been working for a year and a half—will be released.

“This is a crucial moment for the world. We need an independent approach to reclaim digital sovereignty and control over our public digital sphere,” the statement concludes.

Text of the Letter mentioned in the heading:

Public Letter: Against the Attack of Big Tech on Digital Sovereignties

The undersigned wish to express our deep concern over the continuous attacks by big tech companies and their allies on Brazil’s digital sovereignty. Brazil’s dispute with Elon Musk is just the latest example of a broader effort to restrict the ability of sovereign nations to define a digital development agenda free from the control of megacorporations based in the United States.

At the end of August, Brazil’s Supreme Court banned [a certain action in] 2023. Subsequently, President Lula da Silva made clear the Brazilian government’s intention to pursue digital independence: to reduce the country’s dependence on foreign entities for data, artificial intelligence capabilities, and digital infrastructure, and to promote the development of local technological ecosystems. In line with these objectives, the Brazilian state also intends to force big tech companies to pay fair taxes, comply with local laws, and be held accountable for the social externalities of their business models, which often promote violence and inequality.

These efforts have encountered attacks from the owner of X and from far-right leaders who complain about democracy and free speech. But precisely because the digital space lacks internationally and democratically agreed-upon regulations, big tech companies operate as rulers, governing what should be moderated and what is promoted on their platforms.

Moreover, X and other companies have begun organizing themselves and rallying their allies both inside and outside the country to undermine initiatives aimed at achieving Brazil’s technological autonomy. More than just a warning to Brazil, their actions send a worrying message to the world: that democratic countries seeking to free themselves from the dominance of Big Tech run the risk of having their democracies disrupted, with some Big Tech companies supporting far-right movements and parties.

The Brazilian case has become the fundamental front in the evolving global conflict between big tech corporations and those seeking to build a democratic, people-centered digital landscape focused on social and economic development.

Big tech companies not only control the digital world, but they also exert pressure and work against the public sector’s ability to create and maintain an independent digital agenda based on local values, needs, and aspirations. When their financial interests are at stake, they happily work with authoritarian governments. What we need is enough digital space for states to steer technology and to put people and the planet ahead of private profits or unilateral state control.

All those who defend democratic values should support Brazil in its quest for digital sovereignty. We demand that big tech companies cease their attempts to sabotage Brazil’s initiatives aimed at building independent capabilities in artificial intelligence, public digital infrastructure, data management, and cloud technology. These attacks undermine not only the rights of Brazilian citizens but also the broader aspirations of every democratic nation to achieve technological sovereignty.

We also call on the Brazilian government to remain steadfast in implementing its digital agenda and to denounce any pressures against it. The United Nations system and governments around the world should support these efforts. This is a crucial moment for the world. An independent approach to reclaim digital sovereignty and control over our public digital sphere cannot wait. There is also an urgent need to develop, within the UN framework, the basic principles of transnational regulation for accessing and using digital services while promoting digital ecosystems that put people and the planet ahead of profits, so that this testing ground for Big Tech does not become a common practice in other territories.

Anita Gurumurthy, IT for Change

Çağrı Çavuş, SOMO

Adjunct Professor Cecilia Rikap, University College London, IIPP, and CONICET

Professor Cédric Durand, University of Geneva

Professor CP Chandrasekhar, IDEA and PERI, UMass

Dr. Cory Doctorow (hc), author, activist, journalist

Professor Cristina Caffarra, University College London, CEPR RPN Contest

Professor Daron Acemoglu, MIT Economics

David Adler, International Progressive

Ekaitz Cancela, Center for the Advancement of Infrastructural Imagination (CAII)

Associate Professor Edemilson Paraná, LUT University

Professor Emiliano Brancaccio, University of Sannio

Dr. Evgeny Morozov, author and producer of “The Santiago Boys” and “A Sense of Rebellion”

Adjunct Professor Francesca Bria, University College London, IIPP, and Stiftung Mercator

Professor Gabriel Zucman, Paris School of Economics and UC Berkeley

Professor Helena Martins, Federal University of Ceará

Professor Jason Hickel, ICTA-UAB and LSE

Dr. Jathan Sadowski, Monash University

Professor Jayati Ghosh, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics

Dr. Joel Rabinovich, King’s College London

Professor José Graziano da Silva, Zero Hunger Institute – former Director General of the FAO

Professor José van Dijck, Utrecht University

Professor Juan Martín Graña, CONICET and the National University of San Martín

Professor Julia Cagé, Sciences Po Paris, Department of Economics

Professor Marcela Amaro, National Autonomous University of Mexico

Professor Marcos Dantas, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro

Professor Margarita Olivera, Institute of Economics, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro

Professor Mariana Mazzucato, University College London, author of Mission Economy

Margarida Silva, SOMO

Dr. María Farrell, writer

Marietje Schaake, Stanford University, author of The Tech Coup

Professor Martín Becerra, CONICET and the University of Buenos Aires

Professor Martín Guzmán, School of Public and International Affairs (SIPA), Columbia University

Nandini Chami, IT for Change

Dr. Niall Reddy, Wits University

Professor Nick Couldry, London School of Economics

Dr. Nick Srnicek, King’s College London

Professor Paola Ricaurte Quijano, Monterrey Institute of Technology

Dr. Paolo Gerbaudo, Complutense University of Madrid

Paris Marx, technology presenter (“Technology Won’t Save Us”)

Professor Phoebe Moore, University of Essex

Dr. Raffaele Giammetti, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio

Renata Ávila, CEO – Open Knowledge Foundation, affiliated with CIS at CNRS, France

Robin Berjon, Governance Technologist

Rodrigo Fernández, SOMO

Professor Sergio Amadeu da Silveira, Federal University of ABC

Professor Shoshana Zuboff, author of The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power

Sofía Scasserra, Transnational Institute (TNI)

Professor Stefano Lucarelli, University of Bergamo

Professor Thomas Piketty, Paris School of Economics and EHESS

Professor Ulises Mejías, State University of New York

Professor Ugo Pagano, University of Siena

Professor Wolfgang Streeck, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies

Yanis Varoufakis, Secretary General, MeRA25