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Standing up for communication justice
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City scene at night with data centers as skyscrapers and rivers of coins and bills flowing through it. Illustration style

02 Nov 2026 Standing up for communication justice

Posted at 08:50h in Comment, Digital Justice by

WACC’s European regional executive recently concluded their annual meeting in Geneva, reflecting on the challenges they see in their work and communities and the actions that a stretched, volunteer-led group could make happen in response.

Without doubt, the primary recurring challenge was the impact and implications of artificial intelligence. Eye-opening uses of AI applications to improve web presence, social media reach, research, and more were discussed and demonstrated. And surrounding those were issues of trust and truth, environmental concerns, Big Tech monopolies, bias, and human agency.

While the meeting was taking place, Anthropic was preparing for its high-profile stock debut, and in its “The Morning” newsletter on 28 October, The New York Times laid out some of the staggering numbers in the AI industry:

  • The potential valuation of Anthropic is US$2 trillion. It would take 16 million years for the average US household, whose annual income is US$126,700, to reach that – and then only if it saved all that money every year.
  • Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Meta alone are projected to spend US$700 billion this year on AI infrastructure – and the amount of debt taken on by the companies providing data centres and electricity for AI is at least US$3 trillion.
  • Data centres currently consume 1.5 percent of the world’s electricity – the same percentage of global electricity that Germany produces.
  • During the US midterm elections, US$137 million has been spent on ads generated by AI by campaigns and political action groups.
  • And finally, the number of national US laws to regulate AI development? Zero.

Discussion after discussion in multilateral spaces highlight both the significant benefits AI is already bringing as well as the harms the full range of AI applications and those who own, develop, and manipulate them already magnify.

For all of us, what does that mean, to work for justice – specifically communication justice – in a world in which AI is increasingly inescapable?

Technology is helpful, and we can use and promote it for our communication rights goals to enable people to be seen and heard.

But as we have always seen no matter which media, principles of justice must be constantly applied, from our personal use to our advocacy from community to international spaces.

Our actions, individually, organizationally, and even as a movement may seem inconsequential when compared to the numbers. But that should never stop us, nor allow us to underestimate our collective impact.

The challenge is a personal and daily one: How are you standing up for communication justice in a digital world?

Image generated by WACC using Canva Magic Studio

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