Shoulda started yesterday
There's something particularly twisted about watching the U.S. media's reactions to China's DeepSeek AI app. This distinct feeling that the same billionaires who bought the U.S. president and have wholeheartedly capitulated to his racism/hate have been suckering each other and the public out of billions of investment dollars (while trying for trillions) have just been revealed as naked versions of the 'emperors' they fancy themselves. For a technology we're told will change the world, most media cover it only as a business/investment story. If you want information on its potential impacts on people read Karen Hao and follow TimnitGebru.
But I'm here to tell nonprofits and foundations to keep preparing for the next phase of billionaire-platform manipulation. Many of the stories about DeepSeek (in the US media) start with the news that the system was built for half-pennies on the dollar compared to OpenAI and its toys. Then they switch to "gotcha" mode by pointing out that DeepSeek seems to suppress information on Taiwan or the Tiananmen Square massacre.
Ah, yes, these stories imply, we have free speech over here. Excuse me, have you been on X lately? Tried to criticize Musk or Trump on it? Or share info on transgender health care, reproductive rights, or climate change? Given that Google is all in on the "Gulf of America," we should also assume they'll be quick to start hiding, downgrading, or all out banning factual information on January 6, 2021 just as soon as the memo comes down.
Nonprofits and foundations that have built your entire communications strategy around billionaire-owned platforms - what are you going to do when your posts on healthcare, education, the environment, criminal justice. democracy or anything else you might be funding start being "shadowbanned?" (Downgraded by algorithms to the point of being unseen) Or outright banned, since its quite clear that these algorithms now must include variables developed by the Oval Office's version of Truth.
It is already happening in the world of reproductive rights and environmental protection. I'm sure algorithm scholars around the country are revising their work (if they're "lucky" enough to have private funding) to track censorship on properties owned by Meta, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft (which owns LinkedIn).
Your fight will be in the streets and online. If you want to be heard, get off their platforms now and start building on federated, independently owned sites (you can run your own Mastodon server) such as Mastodon and BlueSky.
Oh yeah, and those digital security and governance trainings you sent a junior staff member to, because you can't be bothered knowing about your data vulnerabilities? This is a good time to dust those off and get everyone in the office some safety skills for life online and off.