Fighting foreign propaganda on social media

The recent Senate committee on foreign interference through social media highlights the threats posed by Russian, Chinese and other hostile actors to Australian citizens and democracy.

We want to believe

Whatever the truth behind the recent rash of UFO videos, their diffusion through social media offers an interesting case study in how beliefs spread and change through the population over time.

Brand X

Elon Musk’s rebrand of Twitter to “X” may seem high risk, amateurish, or even capricious but it is also generating enormous global interest, pushing Twitter closer to his other X brands and clearing the way for a profitable merging of technologies.

Tackling misinformation through co-regulation

Australia’s new approach to tackling fake news on digital platforms involves more stick and less carrot than previously.

#Robodebt

Twitter activists, rather than the traditional media, pushed the campaign to hold government ministers to account through a royal commission

Twitter v Threads

Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk may or may not take their combat into the ring, but their social media empires are already fighting for supremacy.

Social media and political engagement

Social media has undermined democracy in liberal Western states but authoritarian governments also see the political turbulence from uncontrolled information systems as a potential blaze that must be kept under strict control.

Don’t feed the beast

Don’t let tech giants’ bottom line dictate how you engage with social media. By being aware of how algorithms work, what they’re capable of and what their purpose is, you can make the shift from being a sitting duck for advertisers to an active curator of your own feeds.

Threats to press freedom from AI to Z

High quality journalism is vital to the health of every free society, but the traditional press faces ever more threats from Russian propagandists to the threat of junk content churned out by AI.

Journalism on the front lines of freedom

Autocrats know that controlling the media is the first step in controlling the population. It’s why journalists are increasingly in the firing line.

Alone in Australia

Alone Australia is the latest Australian version of a hit foreign show, and the winner will have to show the mental grit, physical endurance and survival skills which have secured victory for winners on the American and Scandinavian shows.

The fight for press freedom is a fight for us all

Journalists are threatened by more than ChatGPT, declining ad revenues and litigation happy celebrities. Over 1,200 journalists were killed around the world between 2006 and 2020, with nearly 90% of these cases bringing nobody to justice for these crimes.