10 Feb 2026 WACC Europe looks at why we need digital justice in real time
- During the latest WACC Europe online discussion, communicators from five continents examined how digital technologies intersect with fundamental questions of justice and equity.
- Everything is digital, and everywhere it is a justice issue, from the materials powering our smartphones to the algorithms controlling what we see on social media.
- Rights-based education, like WACC’s “Just Digital” e-course, is crucial to raising awareness and advocating for a more just future in our digital world.
What does digital justice have to do with us?
Digital justice issues permeate contemporary life, said Erin Green, AI ethics expert, lecturer and communicator and WACC individual member, in her introductory presentation.
Though not necessarily apparent at first glance, digital technologies are a common dimension in current affairs, no matter how unrelated the news headlines might seem.
Trump’s demands to “own” Greenland touch on access to mineral resources and metals for devices and military technology, and the placement of surveillance technology. Behind a story on Taylor Swift are the algorithms of streaming services in magnifying popularity.
“When we think about digital justice, we’re really looking at the full lifecycle of technology,” Green explained.
“From the rare earth metals mined for our devices to the data centres consuming massive amounts of energy to whose voices are represented in AI training data – these are all justice questions.”
Issues like environmental impacts, labour exploitation, accessibility barriers, and the concentration of power in technology development are interconnected rather than isolated concerns, Green emphasized.
“We need to understand that the same rare earth metals used in weapons systems are also in our phones and in renewable energy technology,” she noted. “It’s about dual use and being aware of the full implications of our technological choices.”
How can I learn about digital justice?
That everything is digital, and everywhere it is a justice issue, was the backdrop for WACC to develop its “Just Digital” e-course, Green explained.
The user-friendly course aims to show these links between our lives in “real time” and the digital by addressing key dimensions of digital justice such as data and privacy, misinformation, tech-facilitated violence, profit-driven Big Tech, and more.
“We hope it will inspire you to make these connections in your own context. Digital justice is still something that is missing from our largely digital world.”
Can we apply Just Digital principles in real life? The case of languages
Matthew Batten, a communicator and WACC individual member, shared how “Just Digital” gave him new insights for his work with churches in Wales.
“What’s been really valuable from the course is understanding how to critically analyze who benefits and who’s excluded from digital technologies,” he explained.
Become a Digital Justice Champion
On one hand, it is exciting to have AI tools to translate into any language, but the environmental and economic impacts are also a concern, Batten said.
“We shouldn’t be taking work away from people who have specialised in the richness of the Welsh language; to be putting it through AI and just getting a word-for-word translation, which is not what translation’s about.”
The translation challenge illustrates a broader concern raised throughout the discussion: whose cultural expressions and knowledge systems are encoded in AI systems, and whose are marginalized or lost entirely.
Stephen Garner, a digital theologian from New Zealand, shared that discussions with different Indigenous communities have made him more aware that large language models and AI tend to treat texts and images as separate from their cultural context.
“So, in the context of Aotearoa New Zealand, an Indigenous Māori Waiata, a song, is the words, it is the tones, it is the performance, but it’s also the way in which it’s actually embodied within a particular community and understood in relation to a whole lot of other relationships,” he explained.
When a large language model takes the words of a waiata and produces a translation that looks like a waiata but is disconnected from the whole cultural context, it has actually done “violence to the community.”
Who benefits from digital tech? And what are the hidden costs?
Green noted that AI raises expectations in a way that’s not sustainable for the people that need to keep up with it.
She gave the example of being asked to read an article and write a LinkedIn post about it. A task for which she would have been given an hour before the advent of generative AI, now is seen as only taking five minutes – and her workday is still eight hours.
“I think that part of the pushback against the AI will also be, let’s not just have capacity for the sake of capacity,” she said.
Using digital tools is never a neutral choice, emphasized WACC Europe treasurer Katherine Shirk Lucas. There are people who benefit – and there are people who suffer.
The theology professor said her students from the Democratic Republic of Congo have raised concerns about the materials that digital tools require and the related and very real problems of child labor and exploitation in their region.
“We need to keep in mind who is profiting and who is benefiting in the first instance, and many times it’s these large American companies. The issues of justice are really important.”
What about tech’s positive potential?
While acknowledging significant concerns, participants also highlighted technology’s potential for positive change.
Technology can foster inclusion, according to Christian Sterzik, head of digitalization at the Protestant Church in Germany (EKD).
“Digital technology, including AI, has enormous potential for inclusion. Accessible tools can enable blind and visually impaired people to participate in – and even moderate –video conferences. It matters that providers take accessibility seriously and integrate it into their products, and we see encouraging signs that major companies are responding to this responsibility,” he explained.
Sterzik emphasized the importance of maintaining constructive dialogue with technology companies: “Constructive dialogue with technology companies is essential. We want to acknowledge the opportunities as well as the risks. If we engage with openness and credibility, we can raise concerns more effectively and help shape responsible innovation.”
He added that the key challenge is ensuring that these tools and technologies are developed and used in ways that truly serve people and the common good.
How do we move toward a more just digital future?
As one participant noted, the goal is to become “informed users and advocates” – people who can both benefit from digital technologies and work toward more just technological futures.
Batten sees a huge need for education. “Who’s training people to use AI responsibly? Who’s training people to understand that you cannot put personal data into ChatGPT? There’s a lot of assumptions that are being made that people will understand this, and I don’t think that’s the case.”
Taking “Just Digital” is a great first step, Green said, encouraging participants to promote the self-paced, user-friendly course.
While she often hears people in the NGO sector and ecumenical movement expressing some concern about things like hate speech on X, Green said communicators needed to highlight more strongly the core human rights issues at stake, in all parts of daily life.
“We need to keep advocating to put the digital on the justice agenda and not as something separate but as something integral to it,” she concluded.
WACC Europe’s monthly discussions aim to bring a justice angle to communication and technology’s challenges and build networks of informed engagement. Contact WACC Europe for more information.
Just Digital in a Nutshell
1 – Big Issues in Small Bytes: Become a Digital Justice Champion in just 3 sessions. Learn quick tips and actions to protect your data online, recognise and deal with fake news, and exercise your right to freedom of expression responsibly. Available in English, French, and Spanish.
Register at justdigital.ngo.
Regístrese en es.justdigital.ngo.
Inscrivez-vous sur fr.justdigital.ngo.
2 – Taking Control, Making a Difference: Go further in understanding the pros and cons of our digital lives, and take active steps to make our digital world socially and ecologically just. Complete the 6 sessions to become a Digital Justice Advocate. Available in English.
Register at justdigital.ngo.
“Just Digital” was created by WACC with support from the Association of Protestant Churches and Missions in Germany (EMW) and the World Council of Churches (WCC).
The modest course fee supports the development of further digital justice resources. Members of WACC can request a code for free access.
•• Are you a group looking to take Just Digital? Please contact us for a group registration code ••
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