NEW PODCAST🎧 I spoke to Simone Robutti, an organization designer, researcher, and formerly a software dev, part of Tech Workers Coalition since 2018. We discussed starting a labor union at your tech co, innovative ways to strike, and how tech ideology has psyoped you.

@saurik @Fobettarh @WSJ @linakhanFTC @iFixit @kwiens But if you want to go on fighting for the user, you need power that’s more durable than scarcity. You need a union. Wanna learn how? Check out the Tech Workers Coalition and Tech Solidarity, and get organized. 233/

AI’s data workers: Italian magazine @Internazionale interviews @_aloisi (Italian legal scholar in Madrid), @simonerobutti (Italian software developer in Berlin), @numeteris (Italian philosopher in Rome) and yours truly (Italian sociologist between Paris, Africa & Latin America).

I proletari dell’intelligenza artificiale. Inchiesta sui lavoratori che si occupano di catalogare e analizzare i dati essenziali per software come ChatGpt. Ci sono anche in Italia, dove affrontano situazioni di estrema precarietà.

The 1st #FairworkSpain ratings are in! 🇪🇸 An in-depth study of 7️⃣ platform companies, @lapajaraenbici @JustEat_es @cabify_espana @Taskrabbit @Uber_ES @Glovo_ES @MyPoppins_app finds the majority unable to evidence a minimum standard of fair work. 👎 https://t.co/szlqqfARPe

@AltheaNetwork : the Missing Piece for an Internet of the People New Knowldedge Element is out! By @GiulioQuarta_ and @SimoneRobutti You can read it here➡️ https://t.co/jNN3DfYIfc This is our piece for the #altheathon context! ( https://t.co/Kg76Deq5OX)

@SimoneRobutti on DROPS exploring automation games and their representation of mechanization of work 🧲🧲🧲

Ready, steady, go! 🚀 #PrivacyCamp2024 is here. This year's theme: "Revealing, rethinking, and changing systems" Excited for our panel on "Using reverse engineering and GDPR to support workers" @SimoneRobutti @JustinNogarede @San_amd Cansu Safak @WorkerInfoX

@EU_EDPS @DannyMekic @ellajakubowska1 11/15 🚴You can also join the session on using reverse engineering and #GDPR to support workers in the gig economy, with @SimoneRobutti, @APonceETUI from @ETUI_org, Cansu Safak from @WorkerInfoX, @JNogarede from @FES_FoW, & researcher @San_amd. More here: https://t.co/HbiZKCGsMg

If any journalist is willing to cover this story, all of this information is publicly available but I can also put you in touch with some of the workers involved. DM me.

Let’s wrap up: Trade Republic staged a fake protest to promote a new product, they asked the workers to expose themselves and do stuff outside of their normal tasks, gave them fake slogans and signs, and then bragged about it on social media.

I, for once, would totally make jokes about this incident, if I met one apologetic Trade Republic worker in the wild.

Many workers, though, found this activity ridiculous, but so far they haven’t voiced it openly to the management. I wouldn’t be surprised if it happens though: the news is going around, and it’s terrible for their dignity.

Obviously, the workers weren’t enthusiastic about it. Most played along. Some are naive tech-bros, so they saw no problem with the request from the management. I also think this goes against their contract, but whatever.

Embarrassing examples of the slogans, with strong “How do you do, fellow kids?”-vibes included: “Girls just wanna have funds”, “Is there life after work?”, “Make trading great again”, “How is there always money for fireworks and not for investing?” 🤓🤓🤓

Obviously, the signs contained a list of pre-selected slogans provided by the company. This is where the cringe peaks: the soulless copywriting of start-up no-lifers tries to imitate the creativity of spontaneous political action, with disastrous results.

On top of that, the people participating in the fake protest weren’t shills or paid actors: they were employees of the company. Many employees have been coerced to make the signs, join the fake protest, stay there to attract attention, and allow the photographer to take photos

A start-up organizing a fake protest for any topic is already cringe, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. Let’s go deeper. The event was mostly a publicity stunt to promote their new debit card, with a stand where people could pre-apply to receive the shiny version.

Now, let’s get to the cringe: last week the company organized a fake protest in front of their offices. The protest was supposed to be about financial freedom, freedom of trading, a confused reformation of the pension system, and other 1984 “Freedom is Slavery” kind of claims.

4 out of 5 in their C-Level are German tech-bros, one of which ended up on Forbes 30 under 30. That’s always a guarantee that something is off, a signal you will find the most dystopic shit you can imagine.