the digital age wasn’t built for everyone, and we’re here to change that. EquiLabs is a digital rights laboratory driving a future where data and AI serve people and the planet, putting equity, fairness, and accountability first.

our labs approach

using our “labs” approach, we transform bold ideas into meaningful action: through research, advocacy, consultancies and hands-on projects, we’re transforming how data and AI impact lives, shaping policies for transparency, and fostering partnerships to build digital systems that empower and protect communities.

youth-led + intergenerational

we are proudly youth-led, bringing fresh energy, lived experience, and a commitment to bold change. our work thrives through intergenerational collaboration, partnering with diverse voices across generations to create a digital future rooted in equity and justice.

building a global movement

our work is inherently global, while also uplifting the perspectives and needs of communities historically excluded from digital decision-making around the world. we collaborate to create just, inclusive, and empowering solutions, ensuring technology serves everyone equitably.

our activities

advocacy &
systems change

we bring youth-led demands into decision-making spaces. from UN fora to national policy processes, we translate collective insights into proposals, campaigns, and accountability-driven interventions.

collective research

we work with youth most affected by digital systems to document lived experiences of AI, platforms, and data extraction. our research turns frustration, harm, and hope into intersectional evidence that can’t be ignored.

movement-building

we create spaces to understand power in tech and turn insight into action. from queer AI workshops to activist bootcamps, we support youth to move from participation to real influence.

Reclaiming the (Artificial) Intelligence Age
A Youth Manifesto for Digital Justice at Davos

Most of us will never set foot in the halls of the World Economic Forum in Davos, yet the decisions made there will determine our shared digital fate far beyond the Swiss Alps. We, young people from every continent, echoed by allies of all generations, refuse to accept an “Intelligent Age” built on data exploitation, the suppression of marginalized voices, and the shameless spread of disinformation. We have seen Artificial Intelligence systems reinforce racial and gender biases, labeling Black faces as threats while ignoring the rich identities of Indigenous and trans communities. We have watched social media giants profit from hate speech even as it fuels mental health crises, and we have witnessed how corporations quietly expand surveillance without remorse. In pursuit of short-term power, far-right propaganda thrives online, eroding hard-won democratic guardrails. Women, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and people of color endure relentless digital harassment, and countless people in war-torn or impoverished areas remain disconnected, as entire infrastructures are dismantled by conflict or censorship. Meanwhile, massive data centers cast an enormous carbon shadow over a planet already on the brink. Enough.We demand a sweeping transformation in how you, the world’s leaders, devise, regulate, and deploy our digital reality. We insist on truly affordable, meaningful internet access that dismantles divides between North and South, urban and rural - so that no government can flip an off-switch and silence entire populations. We want AI that’s co-created with the very communities who stand to lose the most from its biases, tested by transparent audits, and bound by human rights and equity impact assessments with real teeth. We will not stand idle while data colonialism runs rampant. Where our personal information, especially from those “at the bottom of the data pyramid,” is extracted for private gain. We call for binding global standards that enshrine privacy as a right, not a corporate perk, and demand an end to harmful business models that reward disinformation, embolden far-right extremism, and pit profit against people’s well-being.We demand concrete accountability for tech giants whose platforms glorify hatred and misinformation, whose algorithms relentlessly track us, and whose decisions poison our environment with e-waste and carbon-heavy infrastructure. These corporations must face real consequences if they fail to safeguard user privacy or contribute to ecological devastation. We demand a global framework that actively centers the voices of the historically excluded, women, youth, LGBTQIA+, people of color, Indigenous communities, those in the Global South, whose experiences are routinely sidelined in high-level negotiations. We need massive investment in public digital infrastructure - technology created for collective resilience rather than private profit. We want binding laws that defend our right to speak, protest, and simply exist online without fear of harassment or surveillance. Every AI system, from chatbots to facial recognition, must serve people, not power.If you in Davos cannot muster the courage to carry out these changes, know that we will. Our generation will not remain silent while the digital world, which could unite us, only deepens our fractures. We are forging alliances across borders and identities, repossessing our data from intrusive systems, and raising our voices in every venue, online and offline, until our demands are met. This is not a polite request; it is our unmistakable demand for a just, sustainable, and inclusive digital era. We hold the tools, the vision, and the resolve to reshape these systems from the ground up. Join us in creating a digital age that honors our shared humanity, or step aside as we do it ourselves. History is watching, and we will not be remembered for standing still.With hope and urgency,
Youth of the World** Over 300 young activists worldwide contributed to this manifesto through a collective consultation. Yet we acknowledge that many whose lives are shaped most profoundly by war, poverty, and oppression could not participate. We stand in solidarity with them and pledge that no one will be left behind in the Intelligent Age. This manifesto and consultation were organized by EquiLabs, a youth-led digital rights laboratory dedicated to reshaping data and AI governance for equity and justice.


17 January 2025

DigiLab - um laboratório de direitos digitais para a juventude brasileira

a juventude no Brasil vive na linha de frente das transformações digitais e de suas consequências. algoritmos reproduzem e amplificam racismo, machismo e LGBTfobia. a desinformação molda o debate público e aprofunda a polarização política. dados pessoais são coletados e explorados sem consentimento real.ao mesmo tempo, as decisões sobre o futuro digital do país seguem concentradas em espaços fechados, dominados por grupos com poder político, econômico e institucional consolidado. a juventude, especialmente de comunidades marginalizadas, raramente é convidada a decidir sobre políticas que afetam diretamente seus direitos, sua segurança e suas possibilidades de futuro.o DigiLab, laboratório da EquiLabs, nasce para enfrentar esse cenário.este Lab é um espaço de encontro, formação política e construção coletiva, criado para fortalecer lideranças jovens que querem atuar de forma crítica e organizada na defesa dos direitos digitais no Brasil e no mundo.como o Lab vai funcionar?
o DigiLab acontece em três etapas. primeiro, as pessoas selecionadas participam de dois workshops online para trocar experiências e aprofundar debates sobre direitos digitais, poder e desigualdades.em seguida, o grupo se reúne em uma residência presencial de dois dias em São Paulo, focada na análise coletiva dos desafios digitais no Brasil e na construção de mensagens políticas e estratégias coletivas para amplificar as vozes da juventude. o objetivo será construir uma manifestação coletiva das participantes da residência, que será compartilhada publicamente.após a residência, haverá um encontro online de acompanhamento para consolidar a campanha e fortalecer a continuidade da coalizão. todos os custos de transporte, hospedagem e alimentação são cobertos pela EquiLabs.quem pode se candidatar?
o Lab é destinado a lideranças jovens (18-30 anos) vivendo em diferentes regiões do Brasil interessadas em direitos digitais, tecnologia, justiça social, ativismo ou organização comunitária, e que queiram construir respostas coletivas.daremos prioridade a mulheres, pessoas LGBTQ+, juventudes negras e indígenas, especialmente aquelas mais afetadas por desigualdades digitais e menos presentes nos espaços de decisão. não é necessária formação técnica em tecnologia. o Lab parte das experiências vividas e da construção coletiva.datas-chave
prazo para inscrições: 3 de maio de 2026 às 23:59 (horário de Brasília)
encontros online: 16 de maio e 6 de junho de 2026 (manhã)
bootcamp presencial: 12 à 14 de junho de 2026 (à confirmar)
encontro de acompanhamento: 20 de junho de 2026inscreva-se aqui: https://tally.so/r/9qQ47pcaso tenha alguma pergunta, fale conosco pelo nosso e-mail: [email protected]essa iniciativa é possível graças ao apoio da Vital Voices Global Partnership por meio do programa Vozes que Inspiram.

about us

In true gen z style, EquiLabs was born out of a mix of burning rage and the courage to imagine emancipatory digital futures for all. We name how oppression is embedded in the tech systems we navigate, and reject depoliticised narratives that hide power and harm.EquiLabs is a youth-led digital rights lab translating collective feelings about digital technologies such as frustration, exhaustion, anger, and disempowerment, as well as excitement, hope, and curiosity into forms of action that produce accountability and justice. Through collective research, political education, and international advocacy we are challenging Big Tech-driven narratives that dominate international decision-making spheres.We respond to a growing gap in digital governance: while young people are disproportionately exposed to algorithmic harms, extractive data practices, and precarious digital labor, they remain largely excluded from the institutions shaping digital policy.The core question motivating this project is how young queers, women, racialized, Global Majority-led movements can move beyond consultation and symbolic participation to exercise real influence over AI and digital governance processes, particularly those dominated by corporate power.Methodologically, EquiLabs combines three strands of work. First, participatory research with young people affected by digital systems - from generative AI to platform governance - generating intersectional qualitative data on lived experience, political attitudes, and perceived harms. Second, analysis of digital governance spaces where corporate and institutional actors hold substantial influence, including multistakeholder forums and policy consultations. Third, movement-building experiments that translate research insights into coordinated campaigns, political demands, and public interventions.We have already piloted this approach through several projects. In 2025 we launched a youth manifesto on AI justice developed using inputs from hundreds of young participants and launched at the 2025 World Economic Forum in Davos. We have brought our advocacy to over 30 global fora in the past 2 years, including the UN World Data Forum, Mozilla Festival, UNESCO General Conference, shared our inputs regarding tech-facilitated gender-based violence in policy consultations, facilitated DIY workshops on queering AI with queer collectives, and are currently preparing a digital rights activist bootcamp for young women to be carried out in Brazil in June 2026.We have reached 20,000+ stakeholders through our actions, influencing UN tech recommendations to include genderqueer identities, advising Brazil’s Vice-President on youth-led bottom-up innovation, and co-designing rights-based data frameworks with international organizations. Our leadership team has served in a number of boards, including the UNFPA Global Symposium on Technology-facilitated Gender-based Violence’ Advisory Group, the Global Data Festival International Steering Committee, IGLYO’s Anti-Racism Panel.The next phase of our initiative focuses on systematising this model by providing advocacy tools to cohorts of youth advocates, refining the research framework, and developing accountability-oriented campaigns that directly target corporate practices and governance processes.Join us in building a global youth-led movement for digital rights and AI justice, backed by an international community of advocates, policy-makers, and researchers who believe in the power of community in crafting the tech futures we desperately want and need.