Tech Global Institute

Happening soon! Catch our Head of Programs and Partnerships, Prateek Waghre, speak about the need for CSO participation ahead of the India AI Impact Summit 2026.

📢 Thrilled to announce that our side event, "Designing Community-Centric Data Governance," has been accepted for the WSIS+20 UNGA High-Level Meeting. The event will be held virtually on 16 December, 1–2:30 pm EST, and is hosted by Tech Global Institute and Derechos Digitales. Global data governance is at a critical juncture. With growing concerns about data rights, privacy, equity, and technology’s broader social impact, there is an urgent need for models that give meaningful agency to communities rather than relying solely on top-down approaches. Community-centred frameworks can enhance transparency, fairness, and social justice in how data is collected, managed, and used. The UNGA High-Level Meeting (16–17 December 2025) is a key forum where governments set priorities for the next phase of digital cooperation. Having a dedicated space there to explore community-centred approaches is especially timely. I will be facilitating this side event alongside Paloma Lara Castro and Jaqueline Trevisan Pigatto. We will explore how data governance frameworks can be designed to prioritise community needs and move beyond models that primarily serve state or corporate interests. We invite all those working on or passionate about data justice, digital rights, inclusive governance, and sustainable digital transformation to join the discussion. 👉 Register here: https://lnkd.in/dTnp-Jk3 🌐 Event page: https://lnkd.in/d2T5-cnP I look forward to a thoughtful conversation and to exploring approaches that work across diverse contexts.

🗓  Join us on December 10 for an insightful conversation around  "Centering rights and CSO participation at India-AI Summit 2026” with our amazing panel of speakers: 🔍 Featuring: 🎙️ Jhalak Kakkar  - Executive Director, Centre for Communication Governance, NLUD 🎙️ Prateek Waghre-   Head of Programs and Partnerships, Tech Global Institute 🎙️ Paola Gálvez Callirgos🌐 - AI Ethics Manager, Globethics 🎙️ Akanksha Ahluwalia- Communications Manager, Digital Empowerment Foundation Registration is required to join the event. You can register here and send your advance questions: https://lnkd.in/g386TvEu Looking forward to seeing you there!

How much did Starlink benefit from the close relationship between Musk and Trump? When Musk served in Trump’s administration, Starlink was activated or approved in at least 13 countries. In many of these countries, there are concerns around surveillance and cyberattacks. “Starlink’s rapid entry into Bangladesh has been framed as a solution to internet shutdowns and an investment magnet,” said Sabhanaz Rashid Diya, executive director at Tech Global Institute, an international tech policy nonprofit, and former head of public policy for Bangladesh at Meta. “In reality, it raises deep risks for sovereignty and rights. Satellite internet is vulnerable to foreign interference, jamming, and cyberattacks, and Bangladesh lacks the domestic capacity to defend against such threats.” Read the new investigation by Georgia Gee, Mehedi Marof and Tanbirul Miraj Ripon. https://lnkd.in/gxn8Px56

TGI Senior Fellow Muthuri Kathure recently attended the Global Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) Summit 2025 in Cape Town. The event brought together governments, development partners, technology leaders, and civil society actors from all over the world to discuss how digital public infrastructure can support inclusive, sustainable, and trustworthy digital transformation. However, discussions at the summit revealed the underlying tensions which define the global DPI movement from ideological, financial, and governance-based power struggles. Read Muthuri's full reflections here: https://lnkd.in/gAsdJHef

Catch TGI Senior Fellow, Hassan Abdullah Niazi next week for a discussion on blasphemy laws in Pakistan and South Asia, and how they continue to shape online discourse and content moderation.

This Thursday at UC Berkeley! Sabhanaz Rashid Diya, our executive director, will be giving a talk on the history of Global North-forward tech solutions shaping governance in Global Majority countries. Drawing on cases from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Kenya, the session will examine how techno-imperialism—from agricultural and health “innovations” to AI systems—has deepened inequities and redefined the balance between human rights and development. The session is hosted by The Subir & Malini Chowdhury Center for Bangladesh Studies at University of California, Berkeley’s Institute for South Asia Studies. Event details: https://lnkd.in/gUPEEuSy Livestream link: https://lnkd.in/edvZbATX

Content moderation is the structured process of screening user content on websites, social media, and other online platforms to assess its adherence to legal mandates or community guidelines for a particular site, community, or jurisdiction. And though there are automation tools to perform these tasks, companies depend mostly on the labor of thousands of workers across the #GlobalSouth to keep the internet safe. Meanwhile, these workers go without adequate pay, formal contracts, social protections, or avenues for redress. 📄 Read our report here: https://lnkd.in/g_sBhJ6b

📍 Happening tomorrow in Room B2 at the MozFest venue,  Barcelona! November 9, 2025 | 11:30 - 12:30 CET Registration link: https://luma.com/hqws4vm9 GNI, in partnership with the Centre for Communication Governance (CCG) and the Tech Global Institute (TGI), is convening a multistakeholder consultation on AI governance and innovation, as a part of the global pre-summit series leading up to the India AI Impact Summit 2026. We’re bringing together voices from civil society, academia, industry, and government to explore: - How can AI governance reflect diverse, global perspectives? - What principles can foster openness, safety, and inclusion? - How can multistakeholder dialogue shape real policy outcomes? #GNI #AIgovernance #InclusiveAI #Multistakeholder #MozFest #IndiaAIImpact2026

Next Wednesday (November 12), the Big Tech, Democracy, and Human Rights in South Asia conference will take place at the University of California, Berkeley. This half-day program is co-organized with UC Berkeley’s Center for Race & Gender and the Initiative on Political Conflict, Gender and People’s Rights, and co-sponsored by CSA Stanford University and the Institute for South Asia Studies at UC Berkeley. The conference will bring together scholars, researchers, and journalists to examine how social media platforms are reshaping democracy and human rights in South Asia, and to discuss strategies for addressing online harms and platform-enabled extremism. Gerry Shih Zeba Warsi Nighat Dad Sabhanaz Rashid Diya jeff horwitz Michael Kugelman Alexa Koenig Registration details: https://lnkd.in/eis5sfKf #SouthAsiaTechConf2025