Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the world faster than the world can mitigate intensifying geopolitical divisions and socio-economic disparities. As technological change outpaces regulatory policy, no common platform has yet emerged to coordinate a variety of governance approaches across multiple national contexts. The concerns and interests of the citizens and civil society of the Global South – broadly, the post-colonial nations of Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, South and Central Asia, and the Asia-Pacific – must be prioritised by policy makers to reverse increasing fragmentation in the governance of algorithmic platforms and AI-powered systems worldwide. Particular attention must be given to the varied ways in which national governments and transnational corporations deploy such systems to monitor, manage, and manipulate civic-public spaces across the Global South.