A few years back, I came across Fairphone at a time when I was looking for alternatives that aligned with my values. The Fairphone 4 to be precise, which I flashed with e/OS, a Frewnch-based de-Googled ROM.

It felt like a little rebellion against the Apple-Google duopoly that had me in its grip. I remember the satisfaction of snapping the back panel off to replace a battery, something my iPhone would never allow. For a while, it worked. Not perfectly, of course—what does?—but well enough that I could pretend I’d escaped the machine.

Then reality crept in, as it always does. Some key Apps stuttered. The ecosystem felt a bit clunky - and my family still keen on reamining with Apple didn’t help. So one day, I found myself holding an refurbished iPhone again.

The weight of it heavier than I wanted to admit.

Since then, so much has changed. The world seems to be lurching towards a new imperialism and fascism, and I’m no longer a Big Tech employee. I’ve become far more aware and try to be more vocal and active in social justice movements like antifascism, anti-apartheid, and anti-Zionism. But in all this, I’ve not had the time or focus on the plight of Congo, and I feel it’s needed.

The more I’ve dug into Congo, the more that weight has settled in my stomach. My phone isn’t just a tool. It’s a node in a vast, brutal network, one that stretches from the mines of Katanga to the boardrooms of Cupertino. And the deeper I look, the more I see how much of that network is built on suffering.

Congo produces 70 per cent of the world’s cobalt, but it’s not just cobalt. It’s copper, gold, coltan, and a host of other minerals that fuel our modern world. Let that sink in. And the cost of these resources isn’t measured in dollars, but in lives.

What I’ve learned has stayed with me:

  • 50,000 children, some no older than my nephew, clawing at the earth in mines that might collapse on them at any moment.
  • A dollar or two a day for work that leaves them coughing up dust, their lungs slowly turning to stone
  • Six million dead since the nineties in conflicts fuelled by the scramble for these resources
  • 5.7 million people displaced, entire communities uprooted, their homes turned into battlegrounds for foreign corporations.

An Ebola outbreak is ripping through the country this year that’s killed over 1,500 people, barely a blip on our news feeds.

And where does all of this end up? In the batteries of our phones, our laptops, our electric cars. In the devices made by Apple, Google, Tesla — companies that have turned a blind eye to the conditions under which their raw materials are extracted.

What’s become painfully clear is that Big Tech doesn’t just profit from Congo’s suffering.

It thrives on it.

The demand for cobalt, copper, gold, and other minerals isn’t driving the local economy. It’s driving the displacement. It’s driving the exploitation. Companies like Apple and Google source these minerals from mines where children are forced to work in conditions that would make a 19th-century factory owner blush. And the wealth? The wealth flows out of Congo like water through a sieve.

The part that really gnaws at me is that Congo’s mineral industry is worth hundreds of billions globally. And yet, less than 5 per cent of that wealth stays in the country. The rest vanishes into the pockets of foreign corporations, middlemen, and governments. The people who actually dig up these resources, who risk their lives and their health to extract them, see almost none of that money. Instead, they’re left with poisoned rivers, collapsed lungs, and a cycle of violence that never seems to end.

So, yes, I’ve been looking at Fairphone again, wondering if I was too quick to give up on it. And what I’ve found is the company is still clear and deliberate one their ambition to do things differently. Their Fair Materials Roadmap 2030 outlines a commitment to responsible sourcing not just for cobalt, but for all the materials that go into their phones. They’re not perfect — no one is in this industry — but they’re trying. They’re working with mines in Congo and other regions to improve conditions. They’re pushing for transparency in their supply chain. They’re building phones that are meant to last, that can be repaired, that don’t treat the planet like a disposable resource.

It’s not a perfect solution. Far from it. The minerals in their phones still come from places like Congo. The conditions in those mines are still horrifying. The global demand for these resources is still driving the suffering. But Fairphone is at least trying to change that. They’re not just taking. They’re trying to give something back.

And that’s a lot more than I can say for the giants of Big Tech.

References

[1] Fairphone. Our Work in the Congo. https://www.fairphone.com/nl/stories/lets-talk-about-fairphones-work-in-the-congo

[2] Fairphone. (2024). Fair Materials Roadmap 2030. https://www.fairphone.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Fair-Materials-Roadmap-2030.pdf

[3] Amnesty International. (2026). 6 Million Voices for Justice for Congo Campaign. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2026/06/drc-amnesty-international-launches-6-million-voices-for-justice-for-congo-campaign-in-renewed-push-for-accountability-for-crimes-under-international-law/

[4] Amnesty International. (2023). Cobalt and Copper Mining for Batteries Leading to Human Rights Abuses. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/09/drc-cobalt-and-copper-mining-for-batteries-leading-to-human-rights-abuses/

[5] Human Rights Watch. Violence in Eastern DRC. https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2026/country-chapters/democratic-republic-of-congo