Tech Empire with Michael Kwet and Tshi Malatji YaleUniversity

Today we welcome Billy Perrigo to discuss the exploitation of African workers performing content moderation for Facebook. Billy is a staff writer at TIME covering social media companies, with a focus on content moderation and responsible AI.

In this episode, we cover Billy's article at TIME, "Inside Facebook's African Sweatshop", which exposes how Facebook outsources content moderation on the cheap to a company called Sama in Kenya. Billy explains how he discovered the story, Facebook's relationship to Sama, the low pay and exploitative working conditions faced by content moderators at Sama, how the company is alleged to repress worker resistance, and more.

Tech Empire is part of the Yale Podcast Network, and can be found on Soundcloud, iTunes, and YouTube, with additional outlets coming soon. You can follow Billy on Twitter at @billy_perrigo. Follow Tech Empire at @TechEmpireCast, Michael Kwet at @Michael_Kwet, and Tshi Malatji at @tshimalatji.

Today we welcome Zoe Baker to discuss anarchism. In this episode, we outline what anarchism is, how it emerged, and its distinction against Marxism. We also discuss the global reach of anarchism, anarchist anti-imperialism, as well as anarchist takes on technology, ecology, anarcho-syndicalism and unions, and the problems of nationalizing private property.

Zoe Baker is a trans anarchist historian who recently completed her PhD detailing the history of anarchism from the 19th century through the Spanish Civil War. Zoe is currently writing a book on anarchism for AK Press.

Tech Empire is part of the Yale Podcast Network, and can be found on Soundcloud, iTunes, and YouTube, with additional outlets coming soon. You can follow Zoe on Twitter at @anarchopac. Follow Tech Empire at @TechEmpireCast, Michael Kwet at @Michael_Kwet, and Tshi Malatji at @tshimalatji.

Today we welcome James Muldoon to the show to talk about what is wrong with platform capitalism, and how we might redesign the platform economy with ideas about platform socialism. We cover the problems with progressive capitalism and antitrust, and proposed socialist solutions to the digital economy, including projects that are already in existence.

You can follow James on Twitter at @_James_Muldoon_. Follow Tech Empire at @TechEmpireCast. Michael Kwet is at @Michael_Kwet, and Tshi Malatji is at @tshimalatji.

This episode welcomes Fatima Hassan to discuss vaccine apartheid and the global movement to end it. We dig into the issue of global inequality, vaccine patents, the TRIPS wavier at the WTO, the Omicron travel bans, and the role of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as resistance campaigns against Big Pharma to ensure fast and equitable vaccination across the world.

Fatima Hassan is a South African human rights lawyer, social activist, and founder of the Health Justice Initiative. You can follow her on Twitter at @_HassanF. Follow Tech Empire at @TechEmpireCast. Michael Kwet is at @Michael_Kwet, and Tshi Malatji is at @tshimalatji.

This episode welcomes Jillian York to discuss how to fix social media. Our chat covers everything from the France Haugen documents to the structure of social media, Global North intellectual circuits, reformism and antitrust, social media decentralization, digital colonialism, and more.

Jillian York is an American free-expression activist and author. She serves as Director of International Freedom of Expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and is a founding member of Deep Lab. Jillian is the author of the recently-released book, Silicon Values: The Future of Free Speech Under Surveillance Capitalism, out now on Verso Books.

You can follow Jillian York on Twitter at @jilliancyork. Follow Tech Empire at @TechEmpireCast. Michael Kwet is at @Michael_Kwet and Tshiamo Malatji is at @tshimalatji.

This episode welcomes Tauriq Jenkins, Nadine Dirks, and Leslie London to discuss Amazon’s construction of a new headquarters on sacred indigenous land in Cape Town, South Africa. Our chat covers the cultural and environmental implications of the new construction site and activist resistance against it.

Tauriq Jenkins is Chair at AIXARRA Restorative Justice Forum, Centre for African Studies at the University of Cape Town and member of the Goringhaicona Khoi Khoin Indigenous Traditional Council (GKKITC). Nadine Dirks is a member of the Lisebeek Action Campaign. Leslie London is a Professor heading the School of Public and Family Medicine at the University of Cape Town and chairperson of the Observatory Civic Association.

You can follow Tauriq on Twitter at @TauriqJenkins. Follow Tech Empire at @TechEmpireCast and the host, Michael Kwet, at @Michael_Kwet.