What does digital freedom actually look like? 👀💻 Our Executive Director, @stevenrenderos.bsky.social, recently spoke with the 35 Mile Foundation about technology, power, and the fight for digital equity. He shares why communities deserve a greater say in the systems that shape our lives.

"Separate reporting in @wired.com magazine revealed that this year’s Dialog event, to be held in Dublin this August, will range across topics including nuclear power, world war 3, sex, and cults."

The Guardian@theguardian.com · 2mo ago

Key Trump allies and Musk on leaked list for secretive Peter Thiel retreat

What does the firing of Scott Pelley by Ellison-owned CBS News have to do with data centers? In an age of media capture, "the data centers and the newsrooms are not separate projects," says Media Justice's @stevenrenderos.bsky.social. Here's how to push back unprecedented.ghost.io/archive/figh...

Fighting for Media Justice in the Age of Tech Oligarchs

Step one: Understand that "the data centers and the newsrooms are not separate projects."

unprecedented.ghost.io

Our ED, @stevenrenderos.bsky.social, joined the Spare a Thought podcast to break down our latest report, Media Capture: Who Controls the Story Controls the Future.💡 Together, they outline how tech oligarchs are capturing media outlets: spareathought.podbean.com/e/who-owns-t...

We're bringing #TakeBackTech III to you! Over the next 3 weeks, we’re livestreaming main stage moments on LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube. First up is our opening conversation with award-winning author @naomiaklein.bsky.social THIS TUESDAY, 5/21, at 7PM ET | 4PM PT. streamyard.com/watch/ETqCBv...

The federal government circulated a "Be on the Lookout" alert to law enforcement across the country targeting comedian Ben Palmer. He didn't know about it until I told him. New story with @injusticewatch.org, co-published with @us.theguardian.com:

DHS placed a comedian on law enforcement’s radar. Illinois spread the word.

Illinois State Police distributed a federal “Be on the Lookout” alert for comedian Ben Palmer over a satirical immigration tip line that went viral.

injusticewatch.org

Read free: How to resist the likes of Andreessen and Musk and "reclaim our media and technology for the collective good." My interview with @stevenrenderos.bsky.social. (It's not on Substack, it's on Ghost.) unprecedented.ghost.io/archive/figh...

Fighting for Media Justice in the Age of Tech Oligarchs

Step one: Understand that "the data centers and the newsrooms are not separate projects."

unprecedented.ghost.io

#Tech billionaires want control over media narratives to uphold their power. Our ED, @stevenrenderos.bsky.social, joins Andrew Callaghan on @channel5bluesky.bsky.social to talk about how tech oligarchs have bought our media system and what alternatives look like. www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CpV...

How Billionaires Captured the Media - (5CAST #19) ft. Steven Renderos

YouTube video by Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan

youtube.com

The same billionaires buying up newsrooms are selling surveillance tech to ICE and pocketing $10B from the TikTok deal. More than a story about media, it’s a story about power. I talked through all of it with @thedailyedge.bsky.social. Check it out!

The Daily Edge@thedailyedge.bsky.social · 4mo ago

In a new Q&A, @stevenrenderos.bsky.social tells me why the unchecked and insidious algorithmic control of tech oligarchs specifically harms people of color—and what individuals concerned about the collective good can do to fight back. unprecedented.ghost.io/archive/figh... #media #socialmedia (2/2)

@stevenrenderos.bsky.social: "There is a push at this moment to build data centers at a scale that hasn't happened before, using quantities of water and electricity that are just unprecedented." He also notes that while data centers aren't new, the current erosion of planning and public process is.

"There's a real necessity for local elected officials to pay attention to community concerns and design a process that actually feels democratic." - @stevenrenderos.bsky.social

The promise of data center jobs are attractive to local governments, but @stevenrenderos.bsky.social of @mediajustice.bsky.social notes that local governments are spending roughly $2M per permanent job that's created to attract data centers to their towns. All in all, that's not a great trade-off.

I went vulnerable on this one, hope you enjoy it.

The Revival Lab@revivallab.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Opening Day for the Los Angeles Dodgers is tomorrow. But their owner profits off of the tech and enforcement that terrorizes the team's most loyal fans. @stevenrenderos.bsky.social looks at what it truly means to love Los Doyers in our latest Revival Letter www.therevivallab.org/los-doyers-b...

I guess @mediajustice.bsky.social didn’t need to publish our Media Capture report, since Donald Trump seems fine just telling us.

Eliot Higgins@eliothiggins.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Donald Trump letting you know how the authoritarian capture of the media is going, in case you missed it. Unlike other authoritarians in places like Hungary and Poland he has no worries about advertising his authoritarian take over of the media.

Larry Ellison just became the most powerful media owner in the world. CNN, CBS, and thousands of other media outlets under one person's control. This week, AP leaders told its reporters resistance to AI replacing their writing is "futile." We wrote a report about exactly this and it dropped today.

MediaJustice@mediajustice.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Today, we’re releasing our NEW #report, Media Capture: Who Controls the Story Controls the Future. 📱💥 #Media is NOT neutral. Our report maps how #Tech Oligarchs are capturing the media ecosystem through ownership, monetary power, and platform control. bit.ly/mediacapturereport

Sometimes this thing is too on the nose

NY Times Pitchbot@nytpitchbot.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Standing up to Trump worked for Harvard. Here's why it never would have worked at Columbia.

Our ED @stevenrenderos.bsky.social joined Anne Pasmanick's @powerstation.bsky.social podcast to break down MediaJustice’s lineage and how our work has evolved to partner alongside on-the-ground organizers resisting the #Tech Oligarchy and #DataCenters. powerstation.libsyn.com/the-deportat...

Power Station: The deportation machine that has been unleashed in our communities would not be possible without tech companies like Palantir

In 2001, in the nascent days of the internet, activists came together to wrestle with a growing challenge, the impacts of an increasingly corporatized media ecosystem on communities of color. They set...

powerstation.libsyn.com

Those are small shoes to fill

I can confirm that Willian Giménez González, beloved day laborer leader and advocate for his fellow workers, has been freed from ICE detention and is back in Chicago! For those interested in supporting him and his family, here is a GoFundMe.

Donate to Support William and His Family After Unjust ICE Arrest, organized by National Day Laborer Organizing Network

On September 12, ICE agents unjustly abducted day laborer Wil… National Day Laborer Organizing Network needs your support for Support William and His Family After Unjust ICE Arrest

gofundme.com

More than a dozen immigration judge were just fired. Such firings have been common on Friday evenings and often involve newer judges still on probation. But today's firings include a Sacramento IJ who's been on the bench close to 20 years. "The judge version of Jimmy Kimmel," one source told me.

“This is a story about who gets sacrificed along the way in that [AI] arms race.” Our ED, @stevenrenderos.bsky.social joins our new staff + @nodesertdatacenter.com member, Vivek Bharathan, in @techpolicypress.bsky.social's podcast on the real story behind #BigTech's data center expansion.

Tech Policy Press@techpolicypress.bsky.social · 11mo ago

New podcast! Justin Hendrix spoke to Vivek Bharathan, a member of the No Desert Data Center Coalition in Tucson, Arizona, and Steven Renderos, executive director of MediaJustice, an advocacy organization that just released a report titled “The People Say No: Resisting Data Centers in the South.”

So excited to see a byline from @aurabogado.bsky.social. And wow what a story. A hotel turned ICE detention center. And unsurprisingly tech plays a role in the end. Great read please check it out!

Aura Bogado@aurabogado.bsky.social · 12mo ago

A Chicago woman went to immigration court. Her case was dismissed; she and her infant were taken by federal agents who turned her over to contractor MVM. They spent five days confined at the Sonesta O'Hare hotel without communication to the outside world. My first byline at @injusticewatch.org:

The most overhyped tech? How should our government step in during this moment? @politico.com asked our ED, @stevenrenderos.bsky.social‬, 5 pressing questions about our current tech reality and what it will take to reclaim our tech future: www.politico.com/newsletters/...

Digital Future Daily

How the next wave of technology is upending the global economy and its power structures

politico.com

Aura is among the best investigative reporters so this news excites me. We desperately need to understand what is happening to immigrants, to better understand the political moment we all are in.

Aura Bogado@aurabogado.bsky.social · last yr.

Federal immigration policy hits incredibly hard on local communities. I’m thrilled to announce I'm joining @injusticewatch.org, where I’ll investigate the hidden machinery of the Chicago Immigration Court and examine how immigrants interact with Cook County courts.

Today’s Sunday news shows featured a bunch of people talking about Salvadoreans. Yet, not one of them was Salvy. It’s not for a lack of experts, only a lack of trying. Here are a few names in case you were wondering.

Wait, I thought this was satire

NY Times Pitchbot@nytpitchbot.bsky.social · last yr.

Sending innocent people to die in torture camps is barbaric. But it's also smart politics. by Chris Cillizza and Gavin Newsom

And @stevenrenderos.bsky.social, Executive Director of @mediajustice.bsky.social, shared how the choices of the current presidential administration are wrecking protections around tech infrastructure: www.technologyreview.com/2025/04/14/1...

DOGE’s tech takeover threatens the safety and stability of our critical data

Elon Musk may have run tech companies, but building technology for government is an entirely different beast.

technologyreview.com

Van Hollen and Bukele couldn’t be more different, but both get to author the story they want to tell. Abrego, meanwhile, is seen but not heard. A visit is nice. Coming home is better.

Chele is a common nickname in El Salvador and one that has nothing to do with gang affiliation. Using that as evidence is like claiming every guy who goes by Tony is in the Mob.

The most enduring image of Salvadoreans is as prop for Kristi Noem propaganda. To be Salvadorean in the US means to be hypervisible yet voiceless. I created this starter pack as a way to remind everyone that we’re real people and that we exist. If you’re Salvadorean reach out so I can add you. 🇸🇻