As distrust of the tech industry has grown, so has the debate over data governance. Different interest groups advocate for distinct approaches, and civil societies also do not have an agreed set of priorities for regulation, in part because how diverse cultures conceptualize and value data varies significantly.

The Data Narratives Civic Media Observatory aims to identify and understand the discourse on data used for governance and policy in El Salvador, Brazil, Turkey, Sudan, and India. Employing our tested Civic Media Observatory (CMO) methods and continuing the work developed by Unfreedom Monitor, we map how data is discussed and framed, and who benefits from different narratives about the effects of data.

Stakeholders working on better data governance can improve their approaches if they have a more nuanced understanding of data narratives, especially in areas where human rights stakes are high. Narratives about data emerging from countries that use technology to support authoritarian governance are especially important to understand. The use of technology to advance repressive political interests, sometimes called “digital authoritarianism,” includes both authoritarian regimes and democratic states that track and surveil citizens, spread mis/disinformation and disempower citizens’ civic and political participation.

Narratives influence how we understand and therefore govern data. However, we lack a rigorous, comprehensive analysis of those narratives, how they work, and who benefits from their propagation. If we mean to change how data is used in the governance of societies, we should first understand how data is perceived and discussed. This is especially true in countries where the use of data exacerbates inequities, injustice, or nondemocratic governance.

Browse through our public database to discover the incidents we've been monitoring:

Click on the “Extensions” tab to access an explanation for each piece of the analysis.

The Civic Media Observatory was one of the winners of the Future of Data Challenge, an award supporting projects to advance solutions imagining a more equitable data economy.