Notes from the NGO underground

Jean is a technologist, founder and CEO of The IO Foundation, a non-profit advocating for Data-Centric Digital Rights. He is one of the co-authors of The Westminster Declaration along with Matt Taibbi, Michael Shellenberger and others, which warns of the “international censorship complex”.

The Westminster Declaration makes three calls to action.

• We call on governments and international organisations to fulfil their responsibilities to the people and to uphold Article 19 of the UDHR.

• We call on tech corporations to undertake to protect the digital public square as defined in Article 19 of the UDHR and refrain from politically motivated censorship, the censorship of dissenting voices, and censorship of political opinion.

• And finally, we call on the general public to join us in the fight to preserve the people's democratic rights. Legislative changes are not enough. We must also build an atmosphere of free speech from the ground up by rejecting the climate of intolerance that encourages self-censorship and that creates unnecessary personal strife for many. Instead of fear and dogmatism, we must embrace inquiry and debate.

We stand for your right to ask questions. Heated arguments, even those that may cause distress, are far better than no arguments at all.

Jean discusses his experiences in the NGO sphere, the moral and ethical cowardice, tricks and corruption he has found there and his refusal to play the game by intersectional (woke) rules; how the terms “freedom of expression” are being used against freedom of expression; how Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter (now X) was essential in exposing the complicity of governments with tech to censor freedom of expression; how community notes work but are under attack; how you can draft a non-woke code of conduct & terms of service for your business and how it’s vital you have the spine to do it; of how universities are now advertising courses for “accredited” podcasters, and finally, we talk about the legacy of The Westminster Declaration as we enter a new age.

Follow Jean on X @JFQueralt