Data Leverage and Collective Action

When platforms and AI systems depend on people, that dependence creates room to bargain. I study data strikes, conscious contribution of data, intermediaries, and collective bargaining for information.

Key References

  1. 2021 · PaperData Leverage: A Framework for Empowering the Public in its Relationship with Technology CompaniesProceedings of the 2021 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency
  2. 2025 · PaperCollective Bargaining in the Information Economy Can Address AI-Driven Power ConcentrationNeurIPS Position Papers

More work in this topic

A not-totally-exhaustive (because there’s a lot of overlap between these themes) list of “outputs” that meet this theme.

2026Mar 2026PanelPanel: Can Decentralists Cooperate? Rethinking Commons and Collective Action in the Age of Platforms and AIATScience 2026
2026Mar 2026PodcastCollective action strategies in the age of AI w/ Nick Vincent from Data LeverageThe Blockchain Socialist
2026Mar 2026BlogA Short Guide to Data Strikes and Conscious Data Contribution in the Context of 2026 Frontier AIData Leverage
2025Dec 2025WorkshopEmpowering Users Together: Connecting Algorithmic Collective Action and Explainable AIAlgorithmic Collective Action Workshop at NeurIPS 2025
2025Dec 2025Workshop OrganizerCo-organizer, NeurIPS Workshop on Algorithmic Collective ActionNeurIPS Workshop on Algorithmic Collective Action
2025Dec 2025Poster PresentationCollective Bargaining in the Information Economy Can Address AI-Driven Power ConcentrationNeurIPS 2025 Position Papers Track
2025Oct 2025WorkshopSync or Sink: Bounds on Algorithmic Collective Action with Noise and Multiple GroupsAlgorithmic Collective Action Workshop at NeurIPS 2025
2025Oct 2025BlogHow collective bargaining for information, public AI, and HCI research all fit togetherData Leverage
2025Jun 2025PaperAlgorithmic Collective Action with Two CollectivesACM FAccT
2025Jun 2025BlogAlgorithmic Collective Action With Two Collectives [crosspost]Data Leverage
2025Jun 2025BlogOn AI-driven Job Apocalypses and Collective Bargaining for InformationData Leverage
2025Mar 2025TalkActivism in the Age of AIIATSE 891 AI Day of Learning @ Downtown Vancouver
2025Mar 2025BlogEvaluation Data Leverage: Advances like "Deep Research" Highlight a Looming Opportunity for Bargaining PowerData Leverage
2024Sep 2024BlogIs Zuckerberg right to say that your specific creative work has no value to AI?Data Leverage
2024Feb 2024WritingProject Spotlight: CollectiveVoiceMetagov News
2023Oct 2023WritingHow creatives can stop AI from stealing their work.The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
2023Sep 2023BlogWill the New York Times Data Strike Have a Large Impact on ChatGPT?Data Leverage
2023Aug 2023BlogA Harbinger of the Future of Content? The New York Times Starts a Data StrikeData Leverage
2023May 2023BlogThe WGA Strike is a Canary in the Coal Mine for AI Labor ConcernsData Leverage
2023May 2023BlogReddit, StackOverflow, and Europe: All Trending Towards Data DignityData Leverage
2023Apr 2023BlogData Leverage Recap: December 2022 - April 2023Data Leverage
2023Feb 2023BlogAI Technologies are System Maps, and You are a CartographerData Leverage
2023Jan 2023WritingChatGPT Stole Your Work. So What Are You Going to Do?Wired
2022Dec 2022BlogAI Artist or AI Art Thief? Innovation, Public Mandates, and the Case for Talking in Terms of LeverageData Leverage
2022Apr 2022MediaInternet users are 'poisoning' their personal data in the fight against online surveillanceLe Monde
2021Jul 2021WritingApple Now Lets You Opt-Out of Tracking: Will This Give You More Influence Over Tech Companies?Technically Social
2021May 2021TalkPublic interest technologies for the ML age3rd Obfuscation Workshop
2021Apr 2021PaperCan "Conscious Data Contribution" Help Users to Exert "Data Leverage" Against Technology Companies?Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction
2021Apr 2021WritingPowerful Technologies and Their Power Laws: Estimating Machine Learning Systems' Data Leverage VulnerabilitiesObservable Notebook
2021Mar 2021MediaHow to poison the data that Big Tech uses to surveil youMIT Technology Review
2021Mar 2021WritingWhat if we could check Big Tech?: The collective voice of millions of users could be as effective as regulationNorthwestern Now
2021Feb 2021MediaYour data is a weapon that can help change corporate behaviorFortune
2021Jan 2021TalkData Agency: Individual or Shared?RadicalxChange Panels
2020Sep 2020Writing"Data Strikes": A New Form of Leverage for Tech Users?Data Dividend Project Blog
2020Jul 2020MediaIs it time for Netflix subscribers to go on strike?Quartz
2019Nov 2019PaperHow Do People Change Their Technology Use in Protest?: Understanding Protest UsersACM CSCW
2019May 2019Paper"Data Strikes": Evaluating the Effectiveness of a New Form of Collective Action Against Technology CompaniesThe World Wide Web Conference (WWW)