Digital Action is an international advocacy group operated by the New Venture Fund that operates campaigns opposing “Big Tech” and supporting government policies of strict regulation, content moderation, and censorship of social media platforms in the United States, European Union, and elsewhere in the world. The group is particularly active in election-related social media policy, launching the Global Coalition for Tech Justice to “prote[ct] elections globally from Big Tech.” ^{1 2}

The organization is funded by many prominent left-of-center grantmaking organizations including the Ford Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Open Society Foundations. ^{3 4}

Background

Digital Action was formed in 2018 by the New Venture Fund, which has continued to be the fiscal sponsor of the organization. The New Venture Fund is a funding and fiscal sponsorship nonprofit that makes grants to left-of-center advocacy and organizing projects and provides incubation serves for other left-of-center organizations. NVF is the largest nonprofit in the network of nonprofits managed by Arabella Advisors, a Washington, D.C.-based philanthropy consulting company that caters to major foundations and organizations on the political Left. ^{5 6}

Digital Action is highly critical of large social media companies and other companies that it collectively refers to as “Big Tech.” Stating that companies such as Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and others have “extractive” business models that include data collection and algorithmic policies that the group claims are “threats to democracy and human rights.” ^{7 8}

The organization lobbies governments, the media and “elites” globally, citing engagement in the United States, European Union, Africa, and elsewhere. While the group is fiscally sponsored by the New Venture Fund, a U.S.-based nonprofit, the group states that its team is based in Kenya, Zambia, the United Kingdom, the Palestinian Territories, and Germany. ^{9 10}

Activities

Digital Action describes its activity as working mainly behind the scenes to mobilize “civil society organizations, activists and funders” to oppose various internal policies of tech companies while supporting strict regulation and content moderation of social media platforms, particularly regarding elections. The group cites “platform inequity between the global north and global south” as another issue it works on. The group has facilitated several programs and participated in The People vs Big Tech coalition and the Global Alliance Against Digital Hate and Extremism. ¹¹

Global Coalition for Tech Justice

A primary program of Digital Action is the Global Coalition for Tech Justice, which pushes for stricter regulations of tech companies, specifically naming Meta/Facebook, Google/YouTube, Twitter, and TikTok. The goal of the coalition is top pressure civil society [organizations,] national electoral commissions, legislators, activists and journalists” to enact or call for strict content moderation and censorship policies to be enacted on such companies, particularly regarding election information about elections throughout the world. Other participants in the coalition include the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA), Digital Citizenship, the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, India Civil Watch International, Common Cause India, Legal Resources Centre, and the Conscious Ad Network. ¹²

Funding

Digital Action is fiscally sponsored by the New Venture Fund and funded by left-of-center grantmaking foundations including the Wallace Foundation, the Ford Foundation, Luminate Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Skoll Foundation, Unbound Philanthropy, and the Open Society Foundations. ¹³

1. “How We Are Funded.” Digital Action. Accessed October 22, 2023. https://digitalaction.co/how-we-are-funded/
2. “Year of Democracy.” Digital Action. Accessed October 22, 2023.  https://digitalaction.co/projects/year-of-democracy/
3. “How We Are Funded.” Digital Action. Accessed October 22, 2023. https://digitalaction.co/how-we-are-funded/
4. “Year of Democracy.” Digital Action. Accessed October 22, 2023.  https://digitalaction.co/projects/year-of-democracy/
5. “About New Venture Fund.” New Venture Fund. Accessed via wayback machine October 22, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20170212142336/https://newventurefund.org/about-nvf/
6. Philip Rojc. “Big Builds: A Look Inside Arabella Advisors.” Inside Philanthropy. January 14, 2020. Accessed October 19, 2023. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2019/1/14/big-builds-a-look-inside-arabella-advisors
7. “Home.” Digital Action. Accessed October 22, 2023. https://digitalaction.co/
8. “Year of Democracy.” Digital Action. Accessed October 22, 2023.  https://digitalaction.co/projects/year-of-democracy/
9. “Home.” Digital Action. Accessed October 22, 2023. https://digitalaction.co/
10. “Year of Democracy.” Digital Action. Accessed October 22, 2023.  https://digitalaction.co/projects/year-of-democracy/
11. “How We Work.” Digital Action. Accessed October 22, 2023. https://digitalaction.co/how-we-work/
12. “Year of Democracy.” Digital Action. Accessed October 22, 2023.  https://digitalaction.co/projects/year-of-democracy/
13. “How We Are Funded.” Digital Action. Accessed October 22, 2023. https://digitalaction.co/how-we-are-funded/