IDENTITY VALLEY NEWSLETTER #5

Does tech policy need its Greta Thunberg moment?

by Ferdinand Ferroli

For years, digital regulation existed in a strange vacuum of public interest. While "green" policies became entrenched in culture wars, digital legislation remained largely exempt. However, this indifference is starting to shift as digital policy takes center stage in the strained EU-US relations with the US President calling EU rules "extortive" and Meta's CEO criticising Europe for "institutionalizing censorship”.

Despite temptations to take the axe to digital policies in an attempt at appeasement, the EU must stand firm. Not least because recent revelations in "Careless People" about Facebook's inner workings remind us how little some major tech companies care about users and systemic consequences of their operations.

The EU should not play the game of "move fast and break things". Europe’s human-centered approach to the digitalisation isn't just idealistic, it's strategically valuable in preserving a digital landscape that serves humanity amid the rise of powerful AI. The imminent revisions of key policies, such as the GDPR, under the Omnibus III package represent a critical test of Europe's commitment to this vision.

Europe has much to lose due to its relative technological and infrastructural weakness – but in the long run it has even more to gain. Take the fragile EU-US data privacy framework: Its dissolution would hurt both sides considerably – but could finally force Europe to develop a robust domestic tech stack.

Where climate once found its voice in Greta Thunberg, digital rights still await their watershed moment. As tensions grow and tech giants consolidate power, Europe must transform digital governance from obscure policy discussions into a focus point of public discourse and civic engagement.

Either we debate these questions openly in our parliaments and town squares, or we further surrender our digital sovereignty in silence. The politics of the digital aren’t just a niche interest for “nerds”, they are essential for democracy in the digital age.

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What we are reading

Bertelmann Stiftung's initiative "EuroStack" outlines a €300 billion plan for European digital sovereignty, reducing the continent's dependence on imported digital infrastructure while promoting European values.

"The Brewing Transatlantic Tech War" analyses shifting global data dynamics, highlighting the widening gulf between EU and US tech governance. It questions whether Trump's approach and Silicon Valley's antagonism toward European values might undermine critical transatlantic data agreements.

This study on "Paying for Privacy?" by Tyler Horan examines how Pinterest users value privacy, finding income positively and age negatively predict willingness to pay. Users recognise unpaid contributions create value, yet remain reluctant to pay for protection, revealing the conflict between privacy desires and economic realities (aka the Privacy Paradox).

In "From Obstacle to Opportunity" Fehlinger and Ringer describe the dysfunctional relationship between European VCs and policymakers, arguing for a collaborative approach that views regulation as an opportunity rather than obstacle to innovation.

The podcast episode "The book Marc Zuckerberg doesn't want you to read" discusses Sarah Wynn-Williams's "Careless People," which offers her personal account of how social media increasingly manipulates society while exposing the ambitions of Facebook's leadership team..

This bonus podcast episode of our research project DRG4FOOD celebrates Women in Food & Data Science, featuring Jana Kholová who argues that trustworthy data about our food production would likely change our shopping behaviour.

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Hidden gem

"My biggest worry... is that there is no fucking contingency plan"

- Max Schrems, prominent Austrian data protection lawyer on the potential collapse of the EU-US data privacy framework quoted by Euractiv

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Useful stuff

Global AI Regulation Tracker - An interactive world map that tracks AI laws, news and resources around the world.

Has your publication been sucked into an LLM? LibGen is a database of pirated books that Meta used to train AI. It contains millions of books and scientific papers.

Fast Forward launched an AI Policy Builder, helping nonprofits create ethical AI policies quickly and efficiently.

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Some upcoming events

May 22, Berlin
KI Park Summer Event 2025

May 26-28, Vienna
Digital Human Conference

May 26-28, Leuven
International Conference on Large-Scale AI Risks

June 4, Berlin
Steinbeis-Dialog @ Adlershof: AI and Industry – Building a Responsible Data-Driven Future