Web Planet

The internet, once seen as liberating free expression, has increasingly become a tool of authoritarian repression, but new distributed technology could put it back in the hands of the people.

Misogynistic tweets correlate with violence against women

Places where there is a lot of misogynistic tweeting going on are likely to have a lot of domestic violence as well, a study by UNSW has found.

Fighting fake news on Twitter

Prompting people to reflect on the accuracy of news headlines increases the quality of news that they share online, according to international scientists.

Why TikTok isn’t really a social media app

There’s one thing we’re all getting wrong about TikTok: it’s not really a social media app.

Social media detox

Short-lived as it was, Facebook’s removal of Australian news raised interesting questions about our dependence on social media and whether we can do without it.

Disinformation threatens evidence-based policy making

The prime minister says the public service needs to focus on ‘getting the right data, the right evidence, and the right reporting’. More importantly, a reliable evidence base supports a sharper focus on long-term thinking and planning.

How tech giants swallowed the web

When Facebook disabled Australians’ access to news articles on its platform, and blocked sharing of articles from Australian news organizations, the company moved a step closer to killing the World Wide Web.

Facebook could face serious consequences over news ban

Facebook’s botched takedown of content publishers yesterday will likely have serious reputational and commercial consequences for the social media platform, says UNSW Business School’s Rob Nicholls.

Feel like breaking up with Facebook?

Users of Open Forum’s Facebook page will note it has been stripped of content by the American social media giant. By way of celebration, here’s a user friendly guide on ridding Facebook from your life as well.

Facebook shoots itself in the foot

Facebook’s ban on Australian news is winning it no friends around the world, and may force it to return to its original purpose of facilitating personal connection and social networking, rather than posing as a forum for public information.

Facebook v Australia

Facebook has banned Australian news content from its site, while Google is cutting deals with major Australian news organisations in response to Federal government plans to force international internet giants to pay for the news shared on their sites.

Misinformation kills

Australian authorities have done a good job in controlling the pandemic, but misinformation as well as administrative incompetence was a major factor in why the USA allowed COVID to spiral out of control.