Afrofuturism as a Tech Framework

In Big Tech’s first episode of the season, host Taylor Owen speaks to C. Brandon Ogbunu, a computational biologist, technologist and assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Yale University. They discuss how Afrofuturism, an aesthetic centring the Black diaspora in imaginings of the future and concerned with questions of power, can bring about a more diverse, inclusive community of tech start-ups and tech platforms.

Under US law there are no guardrails, oversight mechanisms or accountability measures to govern Twitter’s decision making about the content that can or cannot live on its platform. However, Canada is not bound by US free speech law and its unique limitations. Two lawsuits, Joel Bakan and Sujit Choudhry write, aim to require Twitter to play by Canada’s free speech rules.

Florencia Goldsman presents findings of research focused on the #nonbinary community on TikTok in Latin America. The project explored how gender violence and censorship affect content in this space, identified some topics that are main issues for LGBTQ+ individuals on TikTok, and learned how individuals use the platform in different ways to avoid censorship and reinforce the search for freedom of expression online.

This is the third paper released in the Supporting a Safer Internet series, a joint project of CIGI and the International Development Research Centre.

On November 25, CIGI hosted a virtual discussion entitled “Gender-Based Censorship: The Silencing of Voices in Digital Spaces,” moderated by Suzie Dunn and featuring Florencia Goldsman, the author of Non-binary TikTokers in Latin America: Sharing Debates and Circumventing Censorship.

As the first digital currency piloted by a major economy, China’s digital renminbi (RMB) has drawn worldwide attention. But many observers have missed its main point as a key fintech innovation. As Alex He explains in this CIGI policy brief, the digital RMB could be an important tool in assisting China’s central bank to both reassert control over big data in the financial system and bring the growing and powerful Chinese fintech giants under control.

Canadians have a right to a full, fair, independent and public inquiry into the whole-of-government response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and to the lessons and practical reforms such an inquiry will yield. Without that full, fair and public inquiry, painful though the process may be, Canada remains at risk of being blindsided by the next zoonotic threat, writes Adrian R. Levy.

Dec. 7 – 9:30 a.m. EST (UTC–05:00): CIGI is pleased to host His Excellency Cong Peiwu, China’s Ambassador to Canada, for a conversation with CIGI President Rohinton P. Medhora about China’s role in the global economy. In the wake of the G20 leaders’ summit and the WTO Ministerial Conference, this conversation will explore China’s role and influence in issues preoccupying governments worldwide, such as technology, trade, investment, climate change, and cyber and data governance. A Q&A period moderated by Medhora will follow.

To join us online on December 7, please register here.