Asma Mhalla

Asma Mhalla is a French-Tunisian political scientist. She is an associate researcher with the Laboratory of political anthropology, a joint project of the CNRS and the EHESS. She is a lecturer at Sciences Po and École Polytechnique.

Early life Mhalla was born in Tunisia, the eldest of three siblings. Her mother was from a very poor background. Her father was a senior public official who transitioned into entrepreneurship, with mixed success. Her paternal grandfather Mohamed Mhalla (1904–1951) was Great Qadi (Minister of Justice) in the Protectorate of Tunisia. When Mhalla was 12, her parents divorced after her mother abruptly left the household. Thereafter Mhalla was raised by her father in relative isolation from the Tunisian society and with no access to digital screens. Her father encouraged her studying. due to a stay in hospital and illness. During her covalence Mhalla took an interest in digital policy reading the work of Bernard Harcourt. She was also called upon to comment on issues such as the political power of the Big Tech, mostly on social medias, generative AI and the personality of Elon Musk.

In 2024, Mhalla published in French the essay Technopolitique: comment la technologie fait de nous des soldats. Mhalla argued in her book that technology is structuring our relationship to democracy. Her book faced harsh criticism for a lack of investigation and "hyperbolic style" (overuse of "hyper", "big", "meta" etc. without any precise definition), without any consistency in economics, technology and international affairs [Dominique Boullier, "Technopolitique ou l’art de la pêche au gros - AOC media [archive]", April 17, 2024]. Among these critics, the reluctance to name specific persons or entities (companies, governments) in charge of this situation is emphasized, and contributes to create a too general discourse about "us" and "them" [ Irénée Régnauld, LVSL, ""Technopolitique" d'Asma Mhalla: la démocratie du "nous contre eux" [archive]", May 16, 2024].