Talking about Platforms Digital Optimism with Payal Arora
Mar 25, 2026
Payal Arora, a digital anthropologist and Professor of Inclusive AI Cultures, studies how people outside the West use technology. She contrasts Western digital pessimism with pragmatic optimism in the Global South. She discusses platforms as lifelines for refugees and activists. She urges usable public digital infrastructure, incentives over paternalism, and South-led regional tech collaboration.
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Refugees Use YouTube To Humanize And Earn
- Venezuelan refugees in Brazil used YouTube tutorials and creative content to humanize themselves and find livelihoods.
- Arora describes a year-long UNHCR project where refugees used platforms to tell religious and coping stories and generate income.
Iranian Activists Use Platforms As Lifelines
- Iranian activists rely on digital tools as literal lifelines to broadcast protests and seek global visibility.
- Arora references the Women Life Freedom movement and how online visibility is essential amid state violence.
Design Public Infrastructure For Real Users
- Do build user-friendly digital public infrastructure and pair regulation with incentives to drive adoption.
- Arora cites India's digital public stack and warns Europe must prioritize usability and incentives, not just rules.
