Balance-Brief

Balance Brief: 20th November to 2nd December 2025

editor

02 Dec 2025 — 4 min read

Looking back at the past fortnight, we ask: whether technology will continue to concentrate power and risk, or be rebuilt to distribute human agency and planetary responsibility more fairly.

Civil society faces expanding risks as tech platforms amplify harassment, extremist propaganda is being revitalised through AI voice-cloning, and big tech is suppressing evidence that their products damage mental health.

Digital rights advocates worry about the EU weakening hard-won protections, while shell companies are exploiting crypto networks for illicit financial flows. And as AI systems absorb humanity’s behavioural insights at scale, what prevents them from turning that knowledge against us?

Yet governments and thinkers are trying to steer the future. Australia’s new AI Safety Institute, speculation on India’s rise in global AI architecture, and proposals for sustainable cooling and user-owned data all point toward visions of a more accountable digital world.

If you too have thoughts on how digital power will look like in 2026, and how we can reimagine it, pitch your ideas for essays and long-form articles to the Balance new year special edition.

Covering 20th Nov 2025 to 2nd Dec 2025...

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Infrastructures of power

Technology, while offering new tools for resistance and resilience, is being weaponised to surveil, discredit, and disrupt civil society. Civil Society Is At Risk—and Tech Is Part Of The Problem | TechPolicy.Press (20th Nov, Tech Policy Press)

Digital rights organisations write to the European Commission, worried about the upcoming ‘Digital Omnibus’ package. The package could deregulate core elements of the GDPR, the e-Privacy framework, and AI Act, significantly reducing established protections. Digital Omnibus is a major rollback of EU digital protections - European Digital Rights (EDRi) (19th Nov, EDRi)

Meta shut down internal research into the mental health effects of Facebook after finding causal evidence that its products harmed users’ mental health, a lawsuit notes. Meta buried 'causal' evidence of social media harm, US court filings allege | Reuters (25th Nov, Reuters)

For over a year, neo-Nazi networks have been exploiting readily available AI voice-cloning tools to produce English-language versions of Adolf Hitler’s speeches and circulating them online. Neo-Nazi Exploitation Online: AI Voice-Cloning and the Revival of Hitler Speeches – GNET (21st Nov, Global Network on Extremism and Technology)

As AI continues to advance, what will stop chatbots from using the vast knowledge in their training set about how humans think and act — books and journals on neuroscience and behavioral economics — one day against us in real life? The Case For AI ‘Datarails’ | NOEMA (20th Nov, Neoma)

Kyrrex exploited technology and shell companies while serving suspected fraudsters and pro-Russian military activists, even as its owners claimed the exchange followed anti-money laundering rules. Hunt for missing millions unmasks hidden crypto exchanges. (20th Nov, ICIJ)

The ‘cauliflower meme’ is emerging in a context where the Indian state is increasingly permissive toward, and at times actively encouraging, the dehumanisation of marginalised groups. The Dangerous Rise of India’s 'Cauliflower' Meme (21 Nov, CSOH)

AI, labour and displacement

People moderating and assessing the quality of AI content are the ones who trust it the least, showing that incentives for speed are overtaking safety. Meet the AI workers who tell their friends and family to stay away from AI | Artificial intelligence (AI) | The Guardian (22nd Nov, The Guardian)

As Mumbai sees increased energy demand from new datacenters, particularly from Amazon, the filthiest neighbourhood in one of India’s largest cities is suffering. ‘It’s hell for us here’: Mumbai families suffer as datacentres keep the city hooked on coal | Technology | The Guardian (24th Nov, The Guardian)

Governance and geopolitics

The Australian government will establish an AI Safety Institute early next year to assess the risks from emerging AI systems and help safeguard Australians from potential harms. Australia to establish AI safety institute (25th Nov, InnovationAus)

Will India’s role in AI shift from a mere deployment ground to a part of the global AI ecosystem's structural architecture? Why Are AI Giants Betting On India? | TechPolicy.Press (24th Nov, Tech Policy Press)

Digital power reimagined

For the data centre sector, sustainable energy practices will involve accelerating the shift to liquid cooling, redesigning facilities for heat recovery, adopting low-carbon refrigerants, and integrating real-time monitoring across cooling systems. COP30: Report Shows Sustainable Data Centre Cooling Crucial (17th Nov, DataCentre Magazine)

Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the world wide web, says that people should own their data for the internet to function in a way that maximises the benefit to society. Tim Berners-Lee wants everyone to own their own data – his plan needs state and consumer support to work (25th Nov, The Conversation)

Research and reports

On challenges that emerge as GenAI systems are progressively integrated in key sectors of the economy and spheres of life. Three Challenges for Media and Communication Studies in the Age of AI - Thomas Poell, 2025

The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming China’s state control system into a precision instrument for managing its population and targeting groups at home and abroad. The party’s AI.

Data privacy and security are crucial for Personally Identifiable Data, which can easily slip into AI training datasets, where the model can potentially leak sensitive information. Report calls for realising responsible AI through data protection in South and Southeast Asia – EngageMedia