Navigating the Sociotechnical Imaginaries of Brazilian Tech Workers

TL;DR

This paper explores how Brazilian tech workers perceive responsibility, bias, and power in AI and digital platforms, emphasizing local values and contested notions of digital sovereignty in the Global South.

Contribution

It provides empirical insights into the sociotechnical imaginaries of Brazilian tech workers, highlighting their perspectives on bias, accountability, and alternative technological futures.

Findings

Tensions between academic and industry views on algorithmic bias

Limited corporate accountability for user harm and surveillance

Grassroots initiatives advocating for digital sovereignty

Abstract

This chapter examines the sociotechnical imaginaries of Brazilian tech workers, a group often overlooked in digital labor research despite their role in designing the digital systems that shape everyday life. Grounded in the idea of sociotechnical imaginaries as collectively constructed visions that guide technology development and governance, the chapter argues that looking from the Global South helps challenge data universalism and foregrounds locally situated values, constraints, and futures. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 26 Brazilian professionals conducted between July and December 2023, it maps how workers make sense of responsibility, bias, and power in AI and platform development. The findings highlight recurring tensions between academic and industry discourse on algorithmic bias, the limits of corporate accountability regarding user harm and surveillance, and the contested meanings of digital sovereignty, including grassroots initiatives that seek alternative technological futures aligned with marginalized communities needs.