Technology Is Global, Accountability Is Not: Platform Asymmetry, AI Disinformation and Linguistic Justice in Asia

Abstract

Artificial intelligence is transforming the global information environment by reshaping how information is produced, distributed and verified. While debates on AI governance have largely focused on technological innovation, regulation and geopolitical competition, less attention has been paid to how protection against AI-generated disinformation is distributed across linguistic communities. This article argues that a central inequality of the AI era lies not only in unequal access to digital technologies but also in the uneven distribution of platform accountability and verification capacity.

Drawing on scholarship on platform governance, surveillance capitalism, digital colonialism and journalism studies, the article develops the concept of platform asymmetry to explain how global technology platforms allocate moderation resources, safety infrastructures and accountability mechanisms unevenly across linguistic communities. It also introduces the concept of the asymmetry of verification, referring to the widening gap between the democratization of synthetic content production and the unequal distribution of resources required to authenticate information.

Using qualitative comparative case studies of Myanmar, India and Indonesia, alongside policy analysis and insights from multilingual journalistic practice, the article examines how linguistic inequalities in platform governance affect journalism’s democratic role. It argues that AI-generated disinformation should be understood not only as a technological challenge but also as a challenge of information justice, because unequal platform protections create
unequal conditions for verification and public knowledge production.

The article proposes language equity as a normative principle for AI governance. It argues that digital justice requires a more equitable distribution of multilingual moderation systems, verification infrastructures and accountability mechanisms. Unless accountability becomes as global as the technologies themselves, artificial intelligence risks reinforcing existing inequalities within the global information order and weakening journalism’s capacity to sustain informed democratic communication.