We propose a framework for considering ways in which workers in the IT industry shape current and future political life. We reason that in an increasingly datafied society (Couldry, 2020; Ruckenstein, 2023), the social, political and technical practices of IT workers inevitably undermine privacy (Zuboff, 2019), fairness (Farrell & Fourcade, 2023), free speech (Kreiss, 2015) and activism (Feldstein, 2021). We therefore outline a framework that explores IT workers’ interventions in the public domain, such as protests and volunteering; their involvement in policy making – lobbying, legislation efforts etc.; and their political input in the products they create, where their values are materialized in code. We propose, in conclusion, to use this tripartite framework to study both the dystopian implications of datafication – and industry practices that challenge its seeming inevitability.