Digital resistance: Why Patagonia and the Global South are endangered by AI
In a world where every search, transaction, or daily movement is recorded and processed, the omnipresence of data has ceased to be a technological promise and has become a determining factor of political and social power. In a dialogue with CLACSO TV, Emiliano Treré —an Italian researcher, professor at Cardiff University (Wales), co-director of the Data Justice Lab, and co-founder of the Big Data from the South initiative—analyzed how blind faith in algorithms masks deep-seated dynamics of surveillance, manipulation of public opinion, and rampant consumption of natural resources.
Treré's intellectual journey on the importance of Big Data began during his time as a researcher in Mexico in the early 2010s. There he observed early on how both activist movements and political parties were experimenting with platforms and bots to alter the public conversation and build "illusions of consensus," anticipating global scandals such as Cambridge Analytica, which exposed the fragility of privacy and the risk of trusting corporations without citizen scrutiny.
Treré questioned the breakdown of the "techno-optimistic" narrative that emerged in the late 1990s, which promised a radical democratization of knowledge through horizontal networks. In contrast, she pointed out how contemporary platforms have ended up favoring hate speech and extremism due to algorithms designed to prioritize the monetization of anger and polarization, where figures like Elon Musk wield an unprecedented unidirectional power to amplify or silence voices on a global scale.
One of the most critical points of the interview addressed the ecological crisis associated with the "hunger for computing" demanded by generative Artificial Intelligence and Big Data. Faced with a planet ravaged by record fires and floods, the installation of massive computing infrastructures imposes a voracious consumption of water, electricity, and land on local communities without consultation or consent, displacing true social priorities in favor of extractive business models.
This territorial expansion is already having a concrete impact on the Global South, and particularly on the Patagonian region. Following growing citizen resistance in Spain (Aragon), Ireland, and Chile against water scarcity and power outages caused by data centers, Argentina appears to be the industry's next target. Patagonia is emerging as a coveted enclave for investors due to its cold climate and resource availability, opening the door to technological extractivism without regulatory barriers or real benefits for the population.
In the political and cultural sphere, the specialist warned about the ideological currents of the global far right that fuel this unchecked development through climate change denial and an elitist mystique of privatized shelters. In contrast to the apocalyptic myth of a Skynet-style AI, Treré emphasized that the real threat is far more commonplace and debilitating: the rising cost of basic services, the privatization of water, and the lack of effective solutions for public health and housing.
Finally, in the face of the advance of digital authoritarianism, the interview concludes by emphasizing the urgent need to reorient the use of data toward "social justice" and cultural diversity instead of control. For Treré, resistance lies not in magical solutions but in daily work focused on critical literacy, local collective organizing, and promoting technological sovereignty to curb corporate greed and guarantee a livable future.
