### Challenging Big Tech's Unaccountable Power **David Greene** of the **Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)** recently interviewed **Dr. Jean Linis-Dinco**, an activist-researcher at the intersection of human rights and technology, currently serving as the Digital Rights Advisor for the **Manushya Foundation**. The interview sheds light on the foundation's critical stance against the often-unaccountable power of Big Tech and its impact on marginalized communities. Linis-Dinco emphasized that **Manushya Foundation** works with activists and human rights defenders who are targeted and face harassment for their work. Their focus includes challenging laws and policies that criminalize freedom of expression online and confronting the role of private corporations. ### The Pitfalls of 'Stakeholder Engagement' Linis-Dinco voiced strong concerns about civil society organizations seeking a "seat at the table" with Big Tech companies, often under the guise of 'stakeholder engagement.' She argues that such engagement can be a facade, where civil society is used as a rubber stamp for decisions already made behind NDAs, excluding the communities most affected by these technologies. "We don’t want to be used as a rubber stamp for decisions that have already been made behind NDAs or decisions where communities most affected by these technologies were never even in the room to begin with," Linis-Dinco stated. She further criticized the notion that Big Tech can be partners in progress, suggesting that any collaboration is inherently extractive. She believes that civil society has been drawn into legitimizing Big Tech's actions, often having their critiques turned into endorsements. ### Decolonial Intersectional Feminism and Systems of Power Linis-Dinco described **Manushya Foundation** as a decolonial intersectional feminist organization, fundamentally concerned with systems of power. Their work focuses on identifying who holds the power, who is crushed by it, and who has been deliberately kept from it. She also critiqued "lean-in feminism" and "girl boss feminism," arguing that they often benefit women who already occupy positions of privilege and can even be built on the exploitation of other women. ### Freedom of Expression and Material Conditions Linis-Dinco emphasized that freedom of expression must be understood through material conditions. She argued that it is inseparable from justice and cannot be claimed while tolerating systems that silence through fear, poverty, or surveillance. "The real foundation of freedom of expression and freedom of speech is who can speak without consequences and who pays the price for doing so," she said. She also criticized the "freedom of speech absolutist" stance, exemplified by figures like **Elon Musk**, suggesting it often serves to maintain the conditions under which certain privileged individuals can speak. Linis-Dinco envisions a society where people can speak truthfully about their conditions and be heard, where dissent is not criminalized, and where expression becomes a force for transformation rather than a tool for control. She views free speech as a collective condition, inseparable from the kind of society we are building.