The Global South is leading on technological innovation for itself. Yet philanthropy continues to fund Global North ‘tech transfer models’ rather than funding Global South technological innovation, ignoring what’s already happening in the communities it resources. It’s time to let knowledge flow both ways—and fund it.

When Brazilians flooded the comments section of Donald Trump’s official Instagram account in protest of new tariffs on Brazilian products (an act that prompted the @realdonaldtrump profile to restrict comments) this wasn’t just a political act of resistance. It was an example of technological innovation: the Global South’s ability to politically hack the algorithm of a platform controlled by white men in the Global North, subverting systems that today largely amplify far-right narratives.

Similarly, when fan communities of artists such as Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Rihanna, and Billie Eilish mobilised en masse against Brazil’s Bill No. 1904/2024, a controversial proposal aiming to criminalise abortion for child victims of rape, they deployed sophisticated digital engagement strategies to reprogramme the reach of the same algorithms that often suppress progressive causes. These communities turned platforms originally intended for cultural consumption and fan interaction into active zones of political mobilisation, crafting their own methodologies to amplify marginalised voices—subverting dominant systems through creativity and collective intelligence.

The Global South Is Already Creating Technology. Has Philanthropy Taken Note?

Despite such examples, most funding for ‘technological development’ continues to flow to traditional innovation hubs in the Global North rather than funding Global South technological innovation. International philanthropy often operates through a ‘technology transfer’ model, as though knowledge only moves in one direction. This approach fails to acknowledge that the South is already generating technological innovation—in public universities (often less encumbered by corporate influence than their Northern counterparts), in independent newsrooms creating urgent and original methodologies, and in civil society organisations that innovate not from privilege, but from necessity.

We are not simply adapting imported tools. We are subverting them, redesigning them, applying them critically. We invent new technologies of use, develop novel modes of engagement, transform memes into political discourse, and treat algorithms as contested terrains. These are genuine innovations that redefine what is possible within digital platforms, often revealing flaws or creating opportunities that the original developers never imagined. This is not the exception; it is the continuous expression of a situated, urgent, and strategic capacity for innovation: technology made by the hands and minds of the South.

Read the full article about technological innovation in the Global South by Fernanda Martins and Carolina Oms at Alliance Magazine.